Frustrations and Expectations
by forallthethingsimnot
Summary: "Piper watched her leave, waiting until she was no longer in sight before inspecting the mark Alex had left her. Like claiming her as her own, the name in particular marked Piper as hers. A smile tugged at her lips." An exploration of how Piper and Alex came to be, from the very beginning. Rated M because this pair deserves nothing less. Alex/Piper. R&R.
1. Awkward Encounters

**Sup people. I've neglected my other fanfictions to bring you this, because I'm incredibly disloyal and, well, I suck. This story attempts to provide a backstory to the wonderful Alex and Piper dynamic ever-present in OITNB. I was thinking of continuing this to be more than just a one-shot. You decide.**

**Disclaimer: If I was, Season 3 would be here already.**

….

The day had grown late by the time Piper Chapman finally secured the lock and descended the porch steps. The golden afternoon light started gradually seeping away, yet managed to catch on the red autumn leaves that hung precariously on the trees that lined the street. Piper inhaled a shaky breath, her chest constricting as a flood of cold air pierced her lungs. _Damn, I should've worn a jacket,_ Piper muttered inwardly. She picked up her pace a little in an effort to dispel the cold, scuffing along the sidewalk.

Piper had always enjoyed the coming of winter. She loved the feeling of the cold as it hit her cheeks. The way the snow patted gently on car rooves and letterboxes. The musty smell the house generated without fresh air to flow freely through it. Yet these days, winter was associated with another wasted year; at least that was the case for her parents. Most graduates went on to steady jobs and careers. But that wasn't a reality for Piper. She hadn't picked her major based on income prospects, despite the endless encouragement from her parents to study something _solid_. But solid wasn't Piper's game.

Nevertheless, she had enjoyed the time it allowed her to pursue her passion for theatre, read all those books that collected dust on her shelf, get dragged into parties and sleep the next day away. But her parents slowly began to resent the full financial support they granted her, and the necessity of finally getting her head down was slowly winning out.

Guilt at her half-hearted attempts at finding a job incrementally ate away at her conscience, and so Piper convinced herself that she'd bunk down at a coffeehouse, work off her hangover, and reconsider her options. She hung her head, unfocused as her worn Doc Martens paced the pavement, everything falling into a blur. The cold bit at her fingertips, and in retaliation she jammed her hands into the slim pockets of her jeans.

Piper was interrupted from her daze when she felt herself collide into something, or _someone. _Piper winced at the impact. Her clumsiness had made her accustomed to the familiar _crash_, and she mentally cursed herself for failing to pay attention to her direction. Her mother always pestered her about this habit of hers, stressing that _If you don't cure yourself of that nasty habit of yours, you'll have a run-in with something much more serious than a signpost!_

"Oh, shit. I'm so sorry…" Piper muttered, excusing her clumsiness as she held out her hand to steady the victim. "I wasn't looking where I was going-" Raising her head sharply from its gloomy tilt, Piper's jaw dropped ajar slightly as she realised who she had crashed into.

"Uh, it's…_you_" Piper stuttered, tripping blindly over her words, failing to formulate coherency. Her glance inevitably drifted, noticing how the cerulean-tipped locks appeared almost imperceptible against her dark blue leather jacket. Working her way up the jet-black curls, Piper finally managed to tentatively return Alex's gaze; her black-rimmed glasses framing those piercing green eyes that shone confidently back at her. She was hard to forget. And even harder to avoid, apparently.

Alex cracked a tentative smile. "Oh yeah. Laura Ingalls Wilder. I remember you."

Piper felt heat sting at her cheeks as she desperately tried to crush the signs of embarrassment giving her away. Finally, Piper managed to muster up the courage to respond, swallowing down the lump that was forming in her throat. "Look, I'm so sorry about that. Did I hurt you?"

Alex grimaced as she held out her coffee cup and inspected it for spillage. "I'll survive. You didn't manage to drench me in mocha, so congratulations. You successfully avoided a _dreadfully_ overused cliché where you're obligated to clean the mess off my shirt."

The forwardness of Alex's reply threw Piper off-guard, and she rendered her completely unsure of how she could even appropriately respond. _Is she flirting with me?_ Piper realised that she should probably reply before she was made completely mute, but each time she tried to form a logical answer in her head, she failed dismally. Alex arched an eyebrow, sensing Piper's discomfort. "Kidding, _mostly_."

There was something about this Alex character that Piper felt utterly captivated by. Some foreign quality she'd never seen before in a person. Some difference that appeared so attractive to Piper, she felt compelled to chase after it. Perhaps it was because Alex was distinctive to most in this town. From what Piper had managed to establish, Alex belonged to the sophisticated, cultured clique that rented the town-houses up on the high road. They rarely bothered with the college bars and cheap diner joints haunted by the broke college kids. Piper had never harboured any inclination to associate with those types. They were rich and considerably older than herself. But Alex didn't quite fit that mould. Alex was something else entirely.

"How's that resume bullshitting treating you?" Alex quipped, effectively bringing the conversation back to something a little more sterile. Piper shrugged slightly, her glance wandering as she avoided her tendency to state; balancing her gaze between eye-contact and the brickwork of the building adjacent. "Oh, you know, I'm working on it."

Alex nodded enthusiastically in assent. "And by working on it, do you mean working off a crippling hangover?" Piper cringed, getting the sensation of Alex's eyes boring into her. It was a feeling she had never felt before, like someone had taken a knife to her and ripped her wide open. Like all her defences couldn't shield her from Alex's intuition. Like Alex was somehow able to see her for who she really was. _Was it really that obvious? _

"I-, how can you tell?" Piper stammered, crossing her arms in a meek last-line-of-defence gesture.

Piper watched as a smirk tugged at Alex's lips, allowing her slight dimples to peek out from her cheek. "I can see the bags under your eyes. Your make-up's not exactly hiding it all that well." She responded, brandishing her cup close to Piper's face.

"Oh. For a minute that I thought you were some kind of psychic."

Alex gave a throaty laugh. "Are you fucking kidding me? No need for psychic-voodoo, you're an open book, kid." Piper grimaced. Perhaps she was. She was a terrible liar, and even worse at keeping secrets; but she'd never felt so incredibly transparent.

Alex adjusted her position awkwardly, drumming her fingers on the takeaway cup she brandished, waiting to see whether Piper would respond. But Alex had done a wonderful job at rendering Piper mute, remaining absent of a reply for what felt like close to a minute.

"Hey," Alex began, "I can see that you're freezing. They've got some killer espresso in there. Keep me company, and I'll give you a few resume tips while you're at it." Alex offered, gesturing towards the corner coffee shop.

A strange sense of joy began to bubble within Piper at the offer. She wanted to jump at the opportunity, to let her eagerness show as she took the bait from the trap so whole-heartedly. But she decided that eagerness was sure to put Alex off, and the last thing Piper wanted was to scare her away.

"Sure." She replied casually, sticking her hands back into her pockets. Alex crinkled her brow in confusion. "It's just an offer, Piper Chapman. You're not obligated to take me up on it." _Shit_, thought Piper. _I overdid it._ "No, no. I mean, I think I could use the tips."

Alex hesitated, but detected the slither of a smile creep onto Piper's face, and figured she was being deliberately nonchalant. _Playing hard to get._

Piper rubbed her palms together furiously before jamming them in-between her thighs. Alex pushed the coffee towards Piper, taking a swig of her own as she did so. "Thanks," Piper muttered as she lifted up the plastic top and discarded it on the table, the strong aroma of coffee being released into the air. Raising the hardened edge to her lips, Piper tasted bitterness flood over her tastebuds. Piper screwed up her features and cut her sip short at the assault. "Oh gosh, what's in this?" Piper exclaimed, horrified. Alex grinned, giving Piper the impression it was intentional.

"Double shot. Of whiskey, that is. You looked like you needed it."

Piper nodded in acknowledgement. "You really didn't have to pay for that. In fact, it's kinda becoming a habit, don't you think?" She commented, revelling in the way the liquid bubbled and burned deliciously down the back of her throat, creating a wonderful sensation of warmth that only seemed to spread through her entire body.

Alex shook her head. "Don't worry about it. You're a broke college grad! I'm practically aiding the nation's poor and needy! Perhaps I can even take you in and give you shelter." Alex teased. Piper spluttered against the rim of her drink, hot liquid being expelled back into the cup as she was reduced into a coughing fit. Alex clapped her hands together in triumph, attracting the attention of several disgruntled patrons who shot disapproving looks at Piper.

"Classic." Alex remarked, as Piper finally managed to recover from her distress. Piper timidly let her eyes flicker back up to those green orbs, catching glints of mischievousness being directed back at her.

"If you're so financially secure, Piper Chapman, why the stricken job-search?"

"Since I'm such on open book to you, you should be able to work that out for yourself."

Alex sat back against the chair. "What, you want me to guess?" Alex asked, sceptical of Piper's intentions. _What's she playing at?_

"That's right." Piper confirmed, resting her jaw against her palm as the leaned further towards against table, raising her eyebrows as she waited patiently for Alex to accept the offer.

Alex couldn't escape the feeling that Piper was baiting her, but wasn't one to turn down the offer of a challenge. Mirroring Piper, Alex rested her elbows on the table, her fingers pressed against her cheek as she evaluated Piper. _Challenge accepted._

For several moments Piper wondered whether this evaluation was just a false pretence, as Alex stared relentlessly at her, only occasionally lowering her glance to take in some other aspect of her appearance. "Hmm…" Alex hummed, her eyes narrowed as she put down her cup and focused her attention folly on Piper.

"Are you, addicted to something?" Alex quizzed.

Piper shook her head. "No."

"Some weird journey of self-discovery?"

"Nope. Why would I need a job for that anyway?"

Alex huffed in feigned annoyance. She was fairly confident she knew why Piper was out pacing the pavements, applying for every damned job within a 5 mile radius. But if it was games Piper wanted to play, Alex was more than content to play along.

"Desperate measure to avoid someone? Roommate, boyfriend maybe?"

Piper bit her lip, shaking her head slightly. She was quite sure that was not just any guess that Alex had so casually suggested. That was an intentional interrogation veiled as a lucky guess. "No boyfriend." Piper countered, masking it as a subtle drop of information. Alex nibbled slightly at her lower lip, catching Piper's gaze with an intensity that seemed to transport them both into new, unexplored territory. Alex sensed Piper grow timid, and swiftly broke away, returning to her coffee. "We might speed this up by you just telling me, rather than taking on a wild goose chase." Alex suggested.

"My parents are getting sick of supporting me. I haven't exactly followed through on the college-to-career front."

"Ah. Your parents should've seen that one coming, honestly." Alex admitted, sniggering slightly.

Piper wasn't sure whether or not to take offence. Her hand dropped from her jaw, sinking down against her chest defensively. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Oh, come on!" Alex exclaimed, plunking her coffee back down on the table. "You majored in theatre! _No-one_ majors in theatre with a well-paying career in mind. _Passion_, Piper. _Passion_ is why people study theatre."

Piper furrowed her brow in confusion, raising her hand in the air, indicating for Alex to hold up. "Wait a second." Piper began, her tone uneasy. "Can we backtrack a little?" _Shit._ Thought Alex, as she realised her mistake. _I've blown it now._ "How did you know I studied theatre?" Piper queried.

"Resume."

But Piper remained unconvinced. She thought back to the condition of her resume, and what information had been spilled onto its pages. "No, no, I'm pretty sure that's not on my resume…"

Alex shrugged, trying to appear as indifferent as possible, despite the fact she knew she had blown her cover. Piper was familiar to Alex, long before their 'meeting' the week prior. Alex always spent a lot of time at Smith, and in doing so, grew familiar with those that frequented parties and taverns. Piper had gained her attention, although her identity remained a mystery to Alex. Yet, at some point during semester, Alex recognised her in one of the various classes she crashed, cementing her face firmly in her memory.

"Relax, kid. I'm not a stalker." Alex reassured, finding it difficult to hold back the laughter threatening to burst forth at Piper's apprehension.

"But how did you know?" She insisted, becoming more befuddled by the second as Alex's source of information continued to elude her.

Alex finally burst into a fit of uncontrollable laughter, utterly humoured by Piper's adorable expression of bewilderment that was etched onto her face, her brows crinkled together as her eyes darted to Alex's, unnerved. "Put your hand down, kid. They'll think you want something." Alex managed to say, fighting to keep her tone steady as she fought amusement.

"Relax!" Alex called, reaching up to catch Piper's suspended hand and bring it back down to the table. "I know a lot of things."

Piper felt her entire being spark alive at the touch. It started simply, at a single nerve ending, and it grew. It bubbled and simmered and spread. Starting at her fingertips, it caught on every feather of hair like a wildfire that would not be stopped. Alex didn't retract her hand, and let it remain covering Piper's: her fingers curling slightly around to bury it in a chasm of warmth. Whether it originated from the coffee cup or Alex's body heat, she couldn't tell. It was just warmth. And it was delicious. Piper let her eyes wander down to the interlocked entanglement of hands, her breath getting caught somewhere in her throat as her chest began to swell.

A faint humming sound pestered her, and Piper took several seconds to register that it wasn't a product of her imagination, but was the dull buzz of a cell phone. Quickly, Alex slipped her hand back across the table, slithering away, back to safer territory. Piper felt a selfish impulse to snap it back, resenting the loss of warmth it's absence provided.

Fishing the device out of her back pocket, Alex focused her eyes on the screen, skimming through the text that was illuminated on the display. For a moment, Piper swore she saw disappointment surface in Alex's eyes, but it was gone as quickly as it appeared. Alex groaned, stuffing the device back into her pocket. "Look, I've got to go."

Instantly deflated, Piper felt herself release a breath she wasn't aware she had been holding. For her mind, Alex's departure was much too premature. She wasn't sure exactly what she had been expecting. Angry at the expectations that she had managed to unwittingly create, Piper began to slowly retract her hand. "Oh. Okay…"

But before Piper had much time to react, Alex swiftly brushed her hand lightly against Piper's, enclosing softly around her unguarded wrist, pulling her arm gently back across the surface of the table. The pressure encircled around her wrist forced Piper's arm to fall hopelessly under Alex's control. The touch, however light, seemed to burst with some thick anticipation that had stifled the pair of them. Some unsaid, yet mutually admitted, desire. Piper felt her muscles quiver, torn between the impulse to tense, and the urge to relax. To be pulled into Alex, and go willingly.

A pen emerged from Alex's back pocket, and the familiar _click_ resounded heavily in Piper's ears, immune to the chatter of the surrounds, as Alex pressed the ballpoint into her skin. Piper felt her skin prickle as goosebumps flooded along her arm as Alex began to carve a line of digits into her flesh. Piper watched, strangely mesmerised as she focused on the curve of Alex's hand slide along her arm, leaving a trail of ink in its wake.

As each stroke of black ink was applied, a flush developed to outline the numbers. Part of it was from the pressure of the pen, part of it from sensations of touch than danced up and down her arm. Piper secretly hoped that line of numbers would never end.

The penstrokes became achingly slow as Alex drew closer to the end of the sequence, re-tracing again and again unnecessarily over the arcs of the numbers. Piper's skin sparked alive under the command of the pen, evoking sensations that caused Piper to release a shudder that ran through her entire body. She hoped that Alex wouldn't notice, but as her eyes flickered boldly up to read her expression, the smirk plastered onto her face indicated otherwise. Piper watched as the word "Alex" appeared in-between two neatly drawn brackets, slightly crooked as she ran out of space.

"Give me a call sometime. We never did get to those resume tips." Alex invited, letting her hand linger on Piper's skin for a little longer than necessary.

"Sure." Piper answered, her voice breathy and hardly audible; her fingers automatically curling in order to sustain the sensation that lingered on her flesh. Alex reclaimed her mug, sweeping it off the table. Piper let her eyes wander up to meet Alex's, seeing the deliberate and fully intentional nature of her actions reflected in the green depths.

Piper watched her leave, waiting until she was no longer in sight before inspecting the mark Alex had left her. Like claiming her as her own, the name in particular marked Piper as hers.

A smile tugged at her lips.

….

**There you have it. I was really curious about Alex's statement "I kept seeing you around…and then when you called", and thought it was worth a shot. If this was enjoyable and you'd like some more, leave me a review of something. Or some pie. Whichever.**


	2. Good Year, Too

**Hey everyone. It took me a while to figure out where to go in this chapter, but alas, I got there in the end. I was super stoked with the response to the first chapter, so a great big shout-out to you all, and thanks for the pies! You are all amazing, and I'm chuffed some had fun reading it. Hopefully you'll enjoy this instalment just as much.**

**Disclaimer: Jenji Kohan is a genius that can't be matched.**

….

"We really should start eating healthy, you know." Polly remarks, trailing along behind Piper, her hands occupied by the basket she hauls along. Piper's hand lingers steadily above the boxes of _mac-and-cheese_, not hesitating to toss the dark-blue package into the basket before moving on to a new set of shelves.

"_Mac-and-cheese_ doesn't exactly qualify as _healthy_, Piper." Polly insists, raising her voice slightly to stress Piper's inconsistency. From the safety of having her back to Polly, Piper rolls her eyes; gradually beginning to regret the decision to bring Polly along. "As I recall, _Polly_, the basket-slave does not get speaking rights."

From the corner of her eye, Piper catches Polly's glare as she shifts uncomfortably under the weight of the basket. "Yeah, well, the basket-slave is in a foul mood today. It's the fourth time this week Jason has blown me off to watch his stupid football games." Polly huffed, frowning slightly as Piper slips some frozen hash browns into the basket.

Piper smirked, raising her hand over her mouth to conceal her amusement. "You did decide to date him. Despite his intense, and slightly unnerving, passion for that ridiculous game." Piper countered, her fingers running lightly against the convex protrusions of aligned soup-cans that lined the shelf.

"A terrible decision…" Polly muttered, under her breath. "Can we pay a visit to the chocolate aisle?"

Piper spun around instantaneously, forcing Polly to skid faintly in her worn-out shoes in order to not collide into Piper. If Polly was going to bicker endlessly about _her_ inconsistencies, Piper was damn well going to bug her over _hers_.

"You've _just_ spent the last twenty minutes criticising my food choices, and now you want _chocolate_?" Piper retorted, her hands animating her irritation.

Polly shrugged, hoisting the laden basket a little higher against her hip. "What can I say? I'm a hypocrite." She justified, lightly pushing against Piper's back in an effort to steer her towards the confectionary aisle. Reckoning that chocolate was likely to shut Polly up for a while; Piper lets herself be blindly driven towards the confectionary.

"Ugh, look at this stuff!" Polly whined, raising the basket up onto the checkout conveyor belt. "There's not a single vegetable here." She complains, visibly horrified by the state of their bi-weekly shopping.

"Next time, I'm leaving you in the car. You're worse than a child." Piper snaps, dragging Polly away from the basket as she picks through its contents, preventing the bewildered cashier from scanning the items.

"When was the last time we ate a vegetable?" Polly grumbles, raising her hands up in the air, surrendering as Piper lets her go.

Piper snaps her jaw shut, squeezing her eyes closed in an effort to block out Polly's incessant rambling. She catches a mild look of amusement flashed by the cashier, and Piper secretly thanks her lucky stars that they don't shop here often. "Do you have a playpen here or something?" Piper enquires, avoiding Polly's displeased expression.

The cashier sighs lightly, scanning an item as he responds. "Sorry, that's more of an IKEA thing."

"Stop avoiding my questions. I'm just trying to prevent you ballooning." Polly demands, interlocking several bags within her grip and waiting until Piper passes over two crumpled $20 bills. "Well now I'm going to avoid you completely." Piper states, hauling her quota of bags over to Polly. "I'm going to get some wine."

Polly furrows her brow in confusion, as if Piper had just suggested something ludicrous. "But we never get alcohol from here." Polly remarks, maintaining her confused expression. Piper dangles the keys in front of Polly, sticking them in her front pocket upon realising she didn't have a free hand.

"I have a coupon." Piper justifies, sensing this was not the end of Polly's interrogation.

Momentarily appalled, Polly looks on the verge of questioning Piper's sanity as she digs the coupon out of her back pocket to prove herself. Convinced, Polly hits Piper's hand away, embarrassed to be in the possession on the offending object, and quickly scanning around to see if anyone had seen. "Seriously? Is this the direness of our situation? Using coupons like an old granny?"

"I don't think the elderly collect alcohol coupons. I think that's more of an orange-juice thing…" Piper chuckles, jamming it back into her pocket.

"Whatever. I'll wait in the car."

The familiar _ding_ announces Piper into the near-empty bottleshop, attracting the attention of the lone staff member flicking through a day-old newspaper behind the counter. It's an unfamiliar set-up to Piper, and she takes several seconds to orientate herself towards the wine-specific section. Chewing her lip absentmindedly, she heads down the spirit aisle, tempted to pick up a bottle of tequila. But before Piper has the opportunity to act on selfish impulse, the lightness of her wallet squashed into her back pocket registers in the back of her mind, and she decides against it.

Shuffling her feet, Piper rounds upon the wines, her eyes tracing over the unfamiliar labels, searching for something appropriate. Grimacing at the assault of brands, blends, and years advertised on the packaging, Piper releases a slight huff of annoyance.

_What do they even drink?_ It had been a long time since Piper had been coerced into playing host to her family. She had successfully avoided it for almost ten months, employing all manner of excuses from a contagious case of the flu to a 'broken' wrist. But Cal, under the pressure of the "next safest bet" after Piper, was quick to call her up on the fact it was her turn to satisfy the parents. Grudgingly, Piper had complied.

She could easily get takeout from the little Italian place down the road, and pretend her and Polly had been cooking up a storm all afternoon in preparation. But choosing the wrong wine threatened to blow her cover, forcing Piper to endure endless criticism from her mother. Personally, Piper had never been much of a connoisseur when it came to alcohol. The cheapest bottle on the shelf elicited the exact same haze of euphoria that a vintage would, given she slugged down enough.

Utterly mystified by the cryptic combination of years and vineyards she had never heard of, Piper was tempted to accept defeat. She could always ask that uninterested staff member up the front, but decided to save herself from the embarrassment of asking advice on wine she intended to buy with a newspaper coupon.

"You'll want that one." A voice announced from behind her, an arm faintly brushing against Piper's shoulder as a finger indicated to a particular bottle about midway along the shelf.

Piper was alerted to the presence of someone behind her almost immediately as the words reached her ears. Her body reacted automatically; a strange tingling sensation of fear began to run up the length of her spine, making her jump. She spun around clumsily, thrown notoriously off-balance at the shock of someone so unexpectedly entering her personal space.

Piper sought frantically to identify her invader, eyes darting uneasily around until her mind realised she was not in any danger. Piper's rather extreme reaction appeared to take her approacher by surprise, too: a tattooed forearm apprehensively prepared to steady her.

Piper didn't need to glance any farther than that distinctive tribal tattoo to determine who she found herself face-to-face with.

Distantly, Piper's mind distinguished a slight tingling along her forearm at Alex's presence, awakening feelings that had laid dormant since their last lingering touch at the exact spot that began to burn. Instantly, Piper's mind flashed back to watching Alex carve those numbers with an exquisite pressure that threatened to unhinge her. She had wanted to keep that brand on her arm forever. She wanted to be reminded of it, of _her_, every time her forearm was within her line of sight. But above all, Piper wanted to feel that touch again.

Piper snapped her slackened jaw back into position, feeling the irregularity of her heartbeats slowly return to consistency. "Jesus." Piper breathed, her tone wavering nervously. "You scared me."

A slight flicker of guilt surfaced in Alex's expression, her lips twitching downwards slightly as she inwardly claimed responsibility for Piper's reaction. "Sorry." Alex mumbled, so faintly Piper was lucky to catch it. Piper ran a nervous hand down her hair, taking a deep breath as she felt the possibility of hiccups rise in her stomach.

"Is that how you approach people?" Piper accused, exasperation pushing her tone up to a much shallower register. "By sneaking up on them like that?" But her defence quickly lost its charm as Piper punctuated it with a slight _hiccup_.

Alex felt torn between accepting Piper's statement as serious, in its intended form; or the cute, awkward way in which it had come across. Alex screwed up her features, deciding to shrug off Piper's seriousness, and direct her slight irritation in another direction. She wanted to push Piper just that bit further. "Because crashing into them is so much better?" Alex justified, her recovery much more successful than Piper's attempt.

"That was an accident!" Piper defended.

Alex watched as embarrassment burned Piper's cheeks into a flush, the redness almost equal to the colouring of her lips. "Well, we're even now." Alex chuckled, breaking into an amused grin.

"Anyway, I'd be going for that one, if I were you." Alex suggested. Piper glanced back at the shelves, focusing on the bottle Alex had pointed out: a red blend branded with a crisp white label, imprinted with the words _"Jacob's Creek"_ in prominent letters_._

"How are you so sure this one is going to be appropriate?" Piper mused, clasping her fingers around the neck of the bottle, plucking it off the shelf. Alex took a step forward, breaking what barriers of personal space they had left. Piper felt her senses automatically heighten in response to Alex's proximity, allowing her to detect the indistinct smell of cigarette smoke, intermixing with another scent that Piper could only identify as distinctly _Alex._ It felt strangely comforting to Piper.

"It's an Australian shiraz. You can't go wrong." Alex shrugged, extending an arm as she gently pried the bottle out of Piper's grip, her fingers brushing softly against Piper's. Piper felt herself suck in a quick breath. Whether it was a reaction from Alex's proximity or her touch, Piper couldn't tell. All she could concentrate on was the way her body responded so quickly, and so powerfully to Alex. In more ways than Piper would care to admit. And before Piper could even begin to consider how Alex had done it, she was utterly intoxicated.

"Good year, too. What's the occasion?" Alex questioned, inspecting the bottle carefully before handing it back to Piper. "It's my turn to host the family dinner." Piper replied, trying to keep her voice as matter-of-fact as she could muster.

"Somehow, I can't imagine you being much use in a kitchen." Alex mocked, allowing her eyes to rake over every inch of Piper, taking in her worn-out grey hoodie thrown on as a buffer from the onslaught of rain, to the denim-shorts that frayed at the edges into a million pieces of deserted cotton, leaving very little to Alex's imagination. She lacked adherence to any specific style, or clique. She was original, down to the very last thread. Perhaps that was what made her so intriguing to Alex. _No, she doesn't look like the domestic type at all…_

As Alex returned her gaze to Piper's, she noticed Piper take mild offence to her statement: arms curling defensively around the bottle of wine. "That's rather presumptuous." Piper retorted, her inflection trailing off into something a little more flirtatious than originally intended. It didn't go unnoticed, either. Alex quirked an eyebrow, shuffling a little closer to Piper; forcing her to lean back slightly in order to maintain a delicate slice of personal space. Alex rested a hand against the shelves level with Piper, effectively trapping her. If she was going to run, she was going to have to get through Alex first. "Well, am I wrong?" Alex toyed, relishing the way Piper's pupils dilated to compensate against the closing proximity.

Piper knew that she wasn't. Piper couldn't cook to save her life. Her culinary pursuits had been consistent failures since she was a child, failing to master anything much more complicated than toast. Even that wasn't always a guaranteed success.

"You wouldn't be, no." Piper managed to reply finally, her grasp clutching tighter around the wine. Heat began to creep up in her cheeks, revealing much more about her feelings of their predicament than she'd like to disclose. But then again, it wasn't as if she had much choice in the matter. It was _Alex_ who had consciously cornered her almost up into the shelves. It was _Alex_ who relentlessly refused to give Piper the upper hand in the situation. It was _Alex_ who reduced her to a stuttering, hiccupping mess. It was _Alex_ who was now so close to her, she could feel herself drift from focusing on her eyes to her lips, wondering if _this_ was the moment. The moment she'd been secretly anticipating, unconsciously expecting, silently craving.

Piper felt trapped, oddly claustrophobic and almost suffocating from being surrounded by Alex. She was everywhere: her smell, her eyes, her shallow breaths that Piper was certain she could feel dissipate just before they pierced through the thin fabric of her jumper.

Everything became singularly focused on Alex, and Piper suddenly felt herself growing scared. It was overwhelming; giving her the impression of losing all control, a little too soon. _Shit, Piper, what are you doing?_ _Are you really going to do this, in the middle of a bottleshop, clutching onto a bottle of wine for dear life?_ She inwardly cursed.

The line that Alex had drawn bordered too close to manipulation. Too close for comfort. Alex had drawn her in so easily that Piper began to wonder whether she trusted herself in this situation. Everything about it, from the smells to the building ache to the way her mind raced, was new to her. She was fourteen again, anxiously awaiting the first boy to touch her lips.

Piper pulled her wandering concentration back up to Alex's fixed stare, refusing to break the contact. Alex's reluctance to crush the intensity they deliberately created allowed Piper to map, between occasional blinks, the depths of her electric green orbs, flecked with the slightest hints of yellow. Ringed with a much darker shade that descended into darkness, Piper swore they appeared almost luminous behind those striking black frames.

There was something about Alex's eyes that imparted an extraordinary sense of truth. A strange solace that glinted back at her. A dark, unknown utopia. Did she dare travel it? Perhaps it was the strength of the colour that seemed too raw to hide dishonesty. Without even fully comprehending her mind's decision, Piper found herself trusting those pupils.

Risking another descent down to her lips, Piper observed a mischievous smile grow at the corners of Alex's mouth, allowing a flash of teeth to appear. The skin of Piper's forearm began to tingle again, bringing her to question how long this moment had been allowed to go on. Too long to be innocent. But there never was anything innocent about Alex. _That_ was something Piper knew she could count on.

For every moment that passed, Piper became a little more surprised that Alex didn't pull away. But Alex had no intention of doing so. Every second Piper stayed there, deliciously trapped and adorably nervous, she became a little more intoxicated. The distance that remained was down to just a delicate slither. _You could do it, you know. _Alex thought, trying desperately to justify why she hadn't closed the space already.

"We're closing soon. Are you going to pay for that?" a frustrated voice announced, cutting the tension that had shrouded them. Alex grimaced, gritting her teeth as she accepted defeat, feeling the moment dissipate almost as quickly as the colour drained from Piper's cheeks. Alex removed her hand resting against the shelf beside Piper, taking a step back. Piper wanted to bolt, but her legs remained steadfastly glued to the sloppily mopped floor. She was without escape.

"Are you going to pay for that?" Alex finally asked, her voice cracked and raw, traces of desire still hanging off her words. Piper averted her gaze to the space between them, feeling like she might just melt if she met those eyes again.

"I am. I should. I-" Piper stopped herself from another verbal stumble, deciding she had made enough mistakes for one day. Piper caught her breath, wondering how she had lost it in the first place, realising she was still trapped under Alex's piercing eyes.

"You might want to do it now…"

"Yeah." Piper agreed, tapping gently against the bottle she still cradled. Sluggishly catching on to the fact Alex was waiting for her to make a move, Piper forced herself into an about-turn, directing herself back towards the counter.

"Nineteen dollars eighty"

Under the judgemental glare of the unshaven attendant, Piper dug her hand into her back pocket, pulling out a crumpled piece of paper and straightening it over with shaking fingers. Piper heard a chuckle from behind her. "You're buying wine with a _coupon_?"

Piper scowled, wondering if she could, in all possibilities, have appeared any more awkward in front of Alex. The cashier sighed loudly, not bothering to hide his displeasure as his large hand snapped up the crumpled paper, causing Piper to wince. _When did I get this jumpy?_

Piper waited as he turned it over, squinting to scrutinise the expiry. Accepting that he didn't have any grounds to refuse it, the code on the back was tediously jabbed into the cash register, without the slightest regard for the haste he had demonstrated earlier in ushering Alex and Piper out of the shop.

The cashier pushed the bottle forward finally, indicating that the transaction was complete. "Can I at least get a bag?" Piper queried, meeting the cashier's challenging stare with equal intensity.

"You got a coupon for that?" He snarled back, crossing his arms and leaning against the counter. Piper narrowed her eyes, tempted to ask for the manager, but suspecting that wouldn't do a whole lot of good. "Thanks." She shot back sarcastically, snatching away the bottle.

Alex brought her attention back to Piper, realising that their time was up. "Do you need any help with that culinary endeavour of yours?" Alex hinted, deciding pursuit was her only tactic left.

Piper wet her lips, fully aware of the direction of Alex's gaze. "I'll let you know." She teased. Piper turned to leave, brushing purposely past Alex, pushing up against as much fabric as she could without throwing Alex off-balance. Alex sucked in breath, tensing at the delicious contact. Alex detected a grin on Piper's lips as she watched her go, dangling that bottle behind her. Sensations of desire were swiftly replaced by anger as she realised if it weren't for his damn interruption, those lips would have already been on hers.

"You're a motherfucking asshole, you know that?" Alex barked towards the cashier, bitterness and hostility flooding off her tongue in an endless wrath. The cashier smirked, satisfied in his purposeful actions, relishing in the reaction it elicited from Alex.

"An _underpaid_ motherfucking asshole who gets to go home at five."

_Ugh._ Making a mental note to switch bottleshops, Alex clenched her fists together, desperately attempting to suppress the urge to smash that smirk right off his pudgy face. Alex bit back another scathing retort, deciding that attacking the shop attendant would not bring that moment back.

"It's five." The cashier pointed out, tapping a biro against the silver watch around his wrist. "I'm going!" Alex yelled, deliberately overturning a stand of packaged nuts as she spun towards the door.

"You're going to have to pay for that!" The cashier yelled behind her, doing little to halt Alex. "Go to hell." Alex spat back, pushing forcefully on the door.

"Come again!"

….

**I know, I'm terrible. I worked up some serious tension, and all for nothing. That was really teasing of me. If anyone is keen to see another chapter and explore a little more, just give me a hoy sometime to let me know it is wanted. Thanks for your readership!**


	3. The Tables Are Turning

**Hey Vauseman shippers! I couldn't resist writing another chapter; this OTP is just too good. A great big "thank you" to those who take the time to review, I really, really appreciate it. **

**Disclaimer: Come on, let's be serious here.**

….**  
**

Disturbing her peaceful slumber, Alex jolted awake suddenly as a sharp pain struck just below her ribcage. As sleep still made her movements slurred and groggy, Alex slowly twisted around from her position, struggling to identify the nature of the attack. "What the fuck?"

Feeling around the epicentre of the hit, her fingers curled around a hard, rounded object. Running it over with her hand, her compromised vision barely managed to produce an unfocused image of a tatty worn-out baseball. _Ugh, not again_. Gripping the offending object tightly within her killer grip, Alex flung it angrily across the bedroom, not bothering to notice where it landed before collapsing back against the mattress. It was too fucking early to deal with conflict.

"Hey!" A voice demanded, drifting to Alex's ears in that same tone of resentment and insistence that had plagued her the past months. Alex didn't need this today. She was terribly jetlagged and frustrated, and the last thing she felt like doing was needlessly bickering. "You have _got_ to stop doing that", Alex groaned, her voice muffled from being pressed against the edge of a pillow. But Alex doubted that meagre effort was going to be enough to throw Sylvie off her case. Sylvie wasn't one to take things lightly.

Confirming her suspicions, that grating tone struck again. "Are you getting up anytime today? We have a serious problem to deal with!" Swiftly following her words, Sylvie grabbed a handful of the duvet, pulling it away from the bed, leaving Alex no choice but to pay attention. _Fucking hell, I have got to get rid of her._

"If it was _that_ serious, my phone would go off." Alex protested, wedging her head underneath the pillow, blocking out Sylvie's incessant ramblings. "It has gone off. Several times, in fact!" Sylvie maintained, raising her voice several grating decibels. Alex groaned, pushing further into the pillows.

When an emergency called, Alex had learned to drop everything and respond immediately. 'Silent' mode was a luxury that was simply _incompatible_ with her career choice; a fact that caused Alex to grow so familiar to the dull buzz of that irritating device, she responded automatically. Thus, it surprised Alex greatly to have missed it. Rare was the time she managed to fall into a sleep heavy enough to not be roused by its cry.

Sighing, Alex propped herself back onto her elbows, blindly groping around the surface of the bedside table to locate her glasses. "And so you throw a fucking baseball at me?" Alex spat, shooting Sylvie a hostile glare before turning her attention back to finding the frames.

"What's the emergency?" Alex finally relented, managing to slip her glasses over her ears, adjusting to the harsh afternoon light that filtered freely through the uncovered windows.

"Peter's got himself a runner. One of his kids took off with a kilo of product."

Alex rolled her eyes. This was not uncommon, particularly with the younger, gullible mules. They got their hands on a decent batch, and ran with it. They rarely got far. The more pressing problem was keeping them away from the authorities. If they were caught by the feds, they threatened to bring down the entire organisation.

"So? Why are you telling me? I don't run this operation." Alex retorted, her hand skimming the floorboards, searching for her cool metallic surface of her phone.

"Do you _ever_ listen to what I am fucking saying anymore? Peter's _your_ responsibility!" Sylvie shouted, adamant that Alex needed to be reminded of her role in this organisation. But Alex knew her role better than anyone. It wasn't an occupation she'd had vast experience with. But she'd used her time well, and executed her tasks to perfection. _Every. Damn. Time. _Her record was unmatchable.

"_Fine!" _Alex surrendered, sitting up and running a nervous hand down the length of her hair. "You go, get Drew, and track him down."

Unsatisfied, Sylvie threw the scrunched-up duvet down to the floorboards. "The purpose of me waking you up was for you to _help!_ This is fucking serious!" Sylvie complained, raising her hands in the air to animate her point.

"Ugh, fucking hell. Just go, alright?" Alex started, taking a shaky breath to calm herself down before continuing. "I'll call Fahri. Tell him what's going on. Just- just give me a call if anything comes up." Alex instructed, flipping the device open and scrolling through the list of contacts.

"And what about you? Gonna waste away the whole fucking day, while I chase after your fucking dirtywork?"

Alex felt frustration bubble within her, growing with every irritating comment Sylvie made. "I'm fucking jetlagged here!" Alex justified, rubbing at her forehead. "Did you just get off a sixteen hour flight? No, you fucking didn't."

"Hey!" Sylvie countered, demanding Alex's attention back. "If that little asshole gets stopped by the feds before we get to him, you're screwed!" Sylvie droned, her hands gesticulating wildly to illustrate the seriousness of her point.

"Yeah, and so are you. So why are you still standing there?" Alex countered instantaneously.

Resting her head against the headboard, Alex squeezed her eyes shut in an attempt to rid the tension from her mind. She waited for the telltale _slam_ of the door, and the subtle _click_ of the lock before accepting that Sylvie was indeed gone. _Good riddance,_ Alex thought, and without even waiting to breathe, Alex jabbed the green 'call' button and waited impatiently for the call to connect.

"Vause." Came the characteristic monotone voice of Fahri, absent of any trace of the panic that Sylvie had displayed. But then again, Fahri rarely showed concern. That was what made him such an asset to the company: he never let anything stand in the way of the business. Problems were solved logically and strategically, and by doing so, nothing ever got out of hand. Alex had to admire his demeanour. And by the consistent tone Fahri demonstrated, Alex knew immediately there was nothing to really worry about.

"I can't do this anymore. She's a fucking psycho." Alex growled down the line, locking the phone between her ear and her shoulder as she tugged up her jeans.

"Save me the theatrics." Fahri conceded.

"She throws baseballs at me!" Alex elaborated, her eyes automatically locating the white ball in the corner of the room and scowling at it.

"You know what the deal was. She combines her ring with ours; we take the shipment, and cut her loose." Fahri keeps his tone steady as he reminds Alex how important her façade is. "It's a raw deal."

"Yeah, well, in none of that theorizing did we account for her getting attached to me."

The logistics behind the deal were as old as power itself. The cartel had been searching for an expansion, and rather than start from scratch, the quickest and safest way to accomplish an expansion was by taking over a smaller, less influential network. This automatically made Sylvie a target, for she operated from a high rank for a network that controlled a valuable channel through Mexico. Infiltrate her operation successfully, and T.A.M.E had a whole new route to deal through.

Alex was the perfect decoy. If she could turn kids into mules, there was nothing to suggest her methods of persuasion wouldn't be up to the task. Alex had complied, grudgingly at first, and she had executed her task perfectly. Sylvie gradually warmed to the lure Alex provided, forcing Alex to endure the term 'girlfriend' under false pretences for nearly two months. Manipulation had gradually transformed into torture, and Alex wanted the woman out. Out of her bed, out of her apartment, out of the cartel.

Fahri remained quiet, causing Alex to wonder whether the line had gone dead. But Fahri wasn't one to hang up. Fahri would always listen. Especially to Alex's concerns. "Are you even listening? It's been two whole months. Things aren't exactly positive between us. She's going to leave of her own fruition pretty soon."

"Wait until we have notification the shipment is in. Then, it's your call."

Alex sighed, switching the phone over to her left ear. "How long?"

"I'd say two weeks. Maximum."

_Two whole fucking weeks_. Alex wasn't sure she could deal with it. But she had a role to play, and it was her job to see it through. With a heavy sigh that bordered on a groan, Alex finally replied. "Fine. But if she ups it, there's no fucking way I am getting down on my knees to beg her to stay."

"Done."

Alex hung up, throwing the device onto the sheets. Sex was one of Alex's most powerful weapons. Always effective, Alex used it whenever she could to get what she wanted. When her words failed, her seduction went the rest of the way. But this time, this one time, it had backfired. Badly.

_Fucking bitches,_ Alex cursed, shutting her eyes for a moment to relish the silence her apartment was graced with. She liked it best like this. The one place she could count on to be silent. To be free of the outside world, absent of people and expectations; everything faded away when she shut that door behind her. But lately, Alex found herself falling into a routine. She stayed out intentionally late, crept back home in the darkest hours, and slept the majority of the day away. When Sylvie left, Alex used every second to her advantage. The term _sanctuary_ grew less and less applicable.

Evaluating her choices, Alex eventually decided to take a shower. There was little food in the house, and Sylvie was unlikely to be back until tomorrow. She made a habit of crashing out somewhere else whenever she found herself particularly distanced from Alex. Alex spun the taps of the shower around, twisting them to the exact position she had long since memorised. She tugged her t-shirt over her head, getting a little stuck halfway through the manoeuvre. Through the gentle pounding of the shower, Alex's ears pricked to the sound of the familiar ring of an incoming call.

"Fuck." Alex groaned, ditching her shirt onto the tiles. "None of you shut the hell up today, do you?" Alex yelled, thankful her apartment was almost perfectly soundproof. Besides, she never heard the neighbours anyway. If she couldn't hear them, they couldn't hear her.

Alex snapped up the discarded device from the tangled sheets, the blurry string of numbers failing to feel familiar to Alex. It wasn't Fahri, it wasn't Sylvia. It wasn't even Drew. The number was completely foreign. But Alex's occupation required her to always pick up the phone, and so through compromised vision and a mind muddled with agitation, Alex flipped the phone and cradled it close to her ear.

"What do you want?" Alex barked down the line, not hesitating to let her agitation flood into her tone, flatly accusing the caller for their inconvenient disruption without the slightest hesitation.

"Why is it, every time we make contact, it is arrogance that greets me?" The caller returned, in playful sentiment.

Alex stilled, her built-up frustration coming to a grinding halt. Alex had a habit of moving two steps ahead at any given time. She could predict people's actions, thoughts, feelings and language so easily; it became habit to become apathetic to the moment. Alex couldn't remember the last time she had to change her strategy. When she had wrongly presumed the counter-move, leaving her to reel backwards. The response was supposed to fall into one of two categories. Either shock, rendering the caller into a verbal stutter, or indifference, indicating the caller knew Alex well. Intriguingly, the reply fit neither.

Alex crinkled her brow in confusion. "Who is this?" Alex ventured, her voice uncharacteristically tentative as she clutched the phone a little closer to her ear, trying to recall how the voice was familiar to her.

"5' 8", blonde; runs in people on the street…buys wine with coupons." There was no hesitation evident in her reply, none of that awkward muttering and stumbling that had plagued her other run-ins with Alex. This time, Piper had brought her game. She refused to be reduced to a stuttering mess. She was going to be confident. Give Alex a run for her money. Or at least _attempt_ to.

Alex cringed, raising her hand to cover her face, realising she'd successfully made a fool of herself. She didn't need a name to fill in the blanks. She remembered. She remembered all too well. For when Piper left her physical presence in that rather cheap bottle shop, she hadn't left her mind. In fact, she had stayed there. Stubbornly fastened into the roots of her conscious, Alex had found she was incapable of freeing herself from those fateful encounters. They played and replayed until Alex was forced to drown them in gin and tonic. But oddly, they always managed to return.

_Shit, _thought Alex. Despite the fact she'd been made a fool of, utterly beaten in the exchange of a few simple words, Alex felt a smile tug at her lips. She'd wanted that call. She was glad she got it. Even if it was just to have her ego punctured.

"Piper?"

"What, do you really know more than one person who fits that description?" Piper reflected, chuckling silently on the other end of the line.

Alex bit her lip, finding this new, quick-witted Piper strangely enticing. "It's just, I'd given up hope of your call. Thought I scared you away." Alex returned, picking distractedly on the pattern carved into the bedpost. Hearing her voice echo slightly back at her, Alex grimaced at the way she sounded. _Honest_. Too honest for comfort. It was raw; the words that fell so easily from her lips before she had the opportunity to bite them back spitefully. She could have covered her tracks with anything. Flirtation. Confidence. Indifference. _Anything_. Alex hoped Piper wouldn't pay too much attention to notice her lapse.

"Is that disappointment I hear?" Piper teased.

"Possibly. But I'm sure you can make it up to me." Alex suggested, recovering quickly to transform honest to a much more comfortable, and far more characteristic, coy.

"What did you have in mind?"

It was an innocent enough response. But there was something about the way Piper had said it that sent Alex reeling, twisting those words into something a lot less innocent. Alex couldn't be fully blamed, though. Piper had deliberately let the words hang precariously in the air, begging terribly to be open to interpretation.

"What do you eat?" Alex asked, realising her choice of words was, in retrospect, extremely poor. The line fell silent, and Alex could practically _feel_ the confusion she had caused echoing back at her.

"Food, usually. I ate sand when I was little though."

_God Alex, you're an idiot._ _Pull yourself together_. _Think of something! _Finally, Alex recovered some of her lost ground, building a gameplay that would put her back in front. "No, I mean, that's not really a substantial dinner. Opt for something a little more nourishing."

"You sound like you've already got something in mind."

Once again, Alex felt herself town between responding with an innuendo, or pouncing on the opportunity to solidly state a time and place. Piper might have been chipper, but Alex was quick to remind herself that this was a phone call, and people always behaved differently when there was a barrier to protect them. She didn't want to put Piper off.

"Burgers. Tonight."

"Wait, _tonight_? Like, _tonight tonight_?" Piper clarified, taken aback. Alex certainly didn't waste any time. She was straight with what she wanted, and she was damn well going to make sure she did everything in her power to get it.

"Yeah, tonight. On-this-day." Alex confirmed, slightly relieved to have returned to her position of dominance of the situation. Of control. "Unless you're busy, that is." Alex added, covering her tracks, should failure beat her.

Alex waited. And she waited. The silence was agonisingly quiet, and Alex was starting to regret pouncing on the opportunity to take Piper out. But with a croaky start, Piper eventually responded. "I had some stuff planned, but I might be able to blow them off…_for a burger_." Piper emphasised.

"_For a burger."_ Alex repeated. "7pm."

"That's in 3 hours!" Piper exclaimed. "That's awfully eager…"

It was. It was uncharacteristically forward of Alex, but the words had slipped so fast off her tongue that they were gone before Alex could even consider holding them back. But Piper was playing hard to get – practically _begging_ to be pursued. Alex decided it didn't matter if she let her impatience show.

"You want the burger or not?" Alex declared.

"I do."

"Well, there you go. I'll text you directions." Alex concluded, glad to have sealed the deal. Unless Piper chickened out, three hours was all it was going to take before Alex could reinforce the status quo.

"Okay."

Alex tapped the 'end call' button, snapping the phone shut and tossing it to free-fall back onto the sheets below. Alex barely registered the faint sounds of running water, her thoughts still squarely fixated on that phone call. Deliberately coy and charmingly teasing, Piper made it clear it was up to Alex to pursue her. And Alex was more than happy to oblige. She didn't care if she seemed eager. That didn't matter. This was different.

Bubbling deep within the pit of her stomach, Alex felt something akin to nervousness burn delicately away. She'd pursued girls before. This didn't count as anything new, from a tactical point of view. But Alex was mature enough to admit that Piper wasn't going to be just another conquest.

….

**I'm back at uni, so updates are a little slower. I deliberately delayed this chapter until I got a headstart on the next, should anyone want a fourth instalment. I'll give you a clue: we're very close to the opening scene from S02E10 *swoons. I don't know about you, but that's a chapter I'd like to read. **

**Thanks for reading through! The usual applies: drop me a review if you have any thoughts/criticisms, or would like me to continue. Happy shipping.**


	4. Too Fucking Much

**Hey look, an update. Took me long enough. I considered cutting this into two or three chapters, but it flowed so nicely, I decided to keep it together. You're in for a really, really long one. Thanks to everyone who takes the time to comment. Special thanks to: ****s93younger****, ****fig-aruna****, ****foxfan20****, ****endofeverything****, ****cmc49abc**** and ****Lapelosa927****. **

**Disclaimer: Not that desperate.**

….

Alex had always been good at hiding nerves. But tonight might just have counted as the exception to the rule. Remnants of whiskey sloshed around the tumbler Alex cradled, tapping rhythmically against the glass. She didn't mind waiting. It allowed her to get enough alcohol down her throat to return to a state of confidence. It also slurred her mind, something Alex was more than prepared to embrace - subduing the overactivity it had bombarded her with over the past few hours. Full of thoughts of Piper and what the night may hold. Full of expectation. Full of promise.

Just as Alex felt her insides cave in a little with a glance at the clock, the door bangs open. Alex immediately spins around, slightly more eager than necessary. Resting her elbows against the bar, Alex watches, captivated, as Piper stumbles clumsily inside the threshold, escaping the weather that brewed outside.

Alex feels a smile tug at her lips, letting her eyes drink Piper in while she still has the chance. She's got those jeans on. Alex recognises them from the time Piper almost spilled mocha all over her shirt. A little loose for her liking, Alex has to work hard to make out the shape of her thighs from underneath the fabric. But it only serves to entice her further. If she can't see those curves, she'd sure as hell like to _feel_ them.

She lets her eyes continue to wander, taking advantage of every single second she has until Piper focuses her attention.

By the time Alex's lingering gaze breaks from her body and jumps innocently back up to her face, Piper has already noticed her, backed up against the bar. She's noticed Alex's diverted attention, too, as a slither of a secret smile creeps at the edge of her lips. Caught red handed, Alex decides that a coy approach to the evening was effectively no longer an option.

Alex watches Piper's chest raise slightly, a shaky breath pulled from the cool air. Alex feels pangs snap deep inside her stomach; so intense it's almost painful. And with every step Piper takes towards her, it thrums a little more heavily.

_She was in for it_. _She was really, really, in for it,_ Alex surmises, intensely aware of how strong her reaction to Piper's mere presence had become. It was almost unbearable.

"Hey." Piper manages to breathe, bringing her gaze to meet Alex's, and fighting to stay connected with those intense green eyes that brewed a storm.

Piper knew she'd stolen a little control from Alex's empire, and the time to consolidate that was now, if she intended to hold it. So as Piper mentally prepped herself in the mirror that evening, she mustered up all the courage she possessed, and reminded herself to counter every move Alex might make. It excited her, playing a game she didn't know the rules of. It allowed anything to happen.

"_Hey_", Alex returned, savouring the way Piper squirmed uneasily the longer Alex refused to avert her eyes. Alex did her best to conceal her mirth, eyes almost sparkling as she contemplated whether this counted as the starting gun.

...

"Uh, I'll have a Strawberry, Lime & Passion Fruit Daiquiri." Piper requests, pausing for the waiter to catch up with his frantic scribblings.

Alex smirks, flipping the menu closed and pushing it further away. "You're kidding, right?"

"Not" Piper clarifies, not quite as confident in her decision as she was a few seconds ago. Alex laughs, almost brutally at Piper's expense; a hand quickly coming up to hide her smirk. "It won't mix, I'm telling you." Alex assured, shaking her head slightly to emphasize her point. _God, I should have known._

"Says the one who orders a drink containing _bourbon_ at seven in the evening." Piper protested, almost scathingly. Alex shrugs, not fazed by the supposition that alcohol should be subject to specific time schedules.

"It's 1am in Paris. Does that make it any better?" Alex trumpeted.

Piper's brow crinkles in amusement. "You just know that?"

"Something like that."

Of course she just knew that. She'd been to Paris twice in the past month. She could practically recite the time zones backwards of the places she frequented. That's what happened when you spent so much time on the road. That's what happened when you worked for an international drug cartel.

Piper huffs, her curiosity peaked as she distractedly returned to the laminated menu in front of her. But her eyes only flipped over the longwinded titles of a thousand alcoholic beverages, never settling on a choice.

Compensating for Piper's distraction, Alex catches the attention of the boy. "Make it two of the first."

"What?!" Piper quickly interjects before the boy can scribble it down. "What if I don't like it?" Piper defends. But whatever comment Piper assumed was surely understood was lost on Alex, narrowing her eyes in an effort to push Piper to elaborate.

"It'll be a _waste_." Piper articulated, instinctively speaking a little clearer to make her point blindingly obvious.

"No, it won't. I'll drink both."

The waiter raised an eyebrow. "So you want _three_ drinks for the table?"

"For starters, yeah." Alex confirmed, holding out her menu for collection. "Now go, I'm going to need it since you're ordering _rye bread_." Alex turned back to Piper, squarely identifying her as guilty.

She should've known, should've predicted. Alex half-expected her to ask whether the eggs they used were barn-raised or farm-raised. But strangely, Alex didn't feel the resentment she usually would when someone of privilege began the 'organic, fairtrade' spiel. The absence of the emotional reaction that never failed to kick into action made Alex uncomfortable: it always acted as a warning sign to her. It gave away fragments of one's character. But it didn't. Judgement didn't fire.

Clarity dawns when Alex hears Piper begin speaking, pulling her out from underwater thoughts that drowned out everything but Piper.

"You're going to get drunk on that. And I'm going to be pressganged into taking you home."

Piper looks smug and slightly pleased with herself, waiting as Alex snaps up the drink the moment it reaches the table, drawing a purposely long sip from the glass.

"You underestimate my liquor-holding ability."

People that knew Alex knew how well she could hold her alcohol. In fact, it took an awful long time for her to drug herself into a spectacular state of drunkenness, and it took even longer for people to realise she was smashed. Alex had the remarkable ability to keep her speech from slurring and her walk from drifting. Her record was not going to be lost on Piper.

"Well, I'm just saying _most people_ would be pretty slammed after those."

"Well, I'm not most people." Alex contends, tilting her head slightly to the side, the light reflecting on her glasses as her lips part slightly in amusement.

"Point. It's not most people who go around giving out free wine advice. Or maybe that was a special case for you."

Alex could practically feel her ego being punctured. And it hurt, to have her interest and her approaches mocked. As if Piper wasn't doing the same.

"Most wouldn't need it. Not in these suburbs, anyway." Alex grinned, feeling ridiculously pleased with herself to have formulated a quick comeback before time fell out of her favour.

Piper was fast catching onto the fact this was turning personal. "Oh dear, what's _that_ supposed to mean?" Piper exclaimed, offence evident in every undertone that Piper spoke, slightly cutting. But that only fuelled Alex on, letting her know she'd hit sensitive territory. But without coming off as distastefully prejudiced, Alex fell short of backing up her blow.

"Nothing." Alex assured, weaselling her way out of the coming confrontation.

But Piper wasn't buying it.

"You can't just _not finish_ the things you start, Alex. If you've got a comment to make, you can damn well make it. If I walk out of here because of it…well, that's on you."

There was a feisty brutality in Piper's voice that sent shivers up Alex's spine. "Oh, I can assure you, I start the things I finish."

Alex wasn't sure if Piper had caught her drift, or whether she was too preoccupied in contemplating the truth of the statement.

"On pain of inconsistency?"

Alex rolls her eyes dramatically, dropping her hand from under her chin. "God. What are you, an interrogator?"

"Would I get anything more out of you if I was?"

Alex can't resist quirking an eyebrow, watching a Piper bit her lip, wondering whether or not she should've kept that comment back. But Alex preferred it had been said.

"You just might."

A moment passes when Alex wonders whether she hasn't been heard, as Piper returns to her pussy drink she sips occasionally away at. But then again, Alex could hardly expect a reply. Not after that.

"Your charm is losing its lustre. I have to admit, I expected to be swayed by it a little longer."

"Has it occurred to you that judgement just might be a tad premature? Just maybe?"

"Premature?"

"Yeah, premature. You've been in my company for what, _ten minutes_? That's like…leaving a theatre before the fucking trailers have finished."

"Except I'm not leaving." Piper corrected.

Alex nodded against her glass. _Yeah, that may be true. _"Since I've been so completely stripped of allure and charm, I'm not sure why you're still here."

Piper may have been a terrible liar, but what she lacked in the handy talent of falsehoods she made up for in her ability to avoid sticky topics. She could dance around hard truths easily, and Piper was determined she wouldn't have her record go to waste on Alex.

"You know, interrogators are statistically terrible at extracting sensitive information. Bribery ranks much higher in success rate." Piper chimed, running her hands along the wood of the table to occupy herself, drawing attention away from her words.

"Is this a theory you'd like to test or something?" Alex answered, chewing on the inside of her cheek to prevent herself from smirking.

_Didn't work. She's not distracted._

A blush began heating up Piper's face, turning her cheeks crimson as her eyes shone in embarrassment. "Oh, I was just saying, I didn't mean-"

"Shackle me in handcuffs and find out." Alex suggested, but not quite as sarcastically as she had imagined the statement to be. She had meant it to be a challenge, a _cheap blow_, but her voice had turned almost wanton somewhere in-between, and had changed the connotation entirely.

Alex maintained Piper's gaze, watching her priceless reaction turn from horror to a slight curiosity that peaked Alex's interest. _Oh._

Piper felt the heat practically radiate off her cheeks. Bashfulness bubbled away, torn between muttering an innocent enough recovery or boldly accepting the offer.

Piper's mind flashed with forbidden images of Alex's slender wrists encased in thick steel shackles, fixed tight behind her back, pushing her breasts to strain against fabric. Shaking the thoughts away and wondering how she had come up with them in the first place, Piper couldn't help but punt that Alex seemed the type that would actually _own_ handcuffs…

"Relax, kid. I was just joking."

"Oh." Piper murmured, relieved. "Well, that research was generated from prisoners of war from the forties. I'm not sure it would still be applicable."

Alex shrugged lightly, watching as Piper's glance hovered in uncertainty. She shifted uncomfortably in her seat, practically writhing, desperate to escape Alex's passive and highly effective form of torture. "You never know." Alex teased.

Saved, a circling waiter finally approached their polished oak table, sliding the square slabs onto the table before them. Piper's eyes lit up as the food was placed in front of her, the last fragment of banter Alex threw at her forgotten.

"Ooh, fancy." Piper commented, sliding out the steak knife slotted vertically through the burger. Alex did the same, grasping the handle and discarding it on the table. But Piper didn't copy. Instead, Piper slid the knife back, easing it through the crusty rye bread serving as an encasing layer. Piper's peculiar yet meticulous actions didn't go unnoticed, either. Alex watched, puzzled, as Piper's hand curved around the blade, her thumb grazing against the firm crust as it sunk further in.

"What are you doing?"

"What does it look like?" Piper adjusted the angle of her knife, her concentration fixed.

"It looks like you're cutting a fucking birthday cake."

"It's my burger", Piper insisted, but the second those words left her lips, she could practically _feel_ Alex burning holes in her argument.

"Mhm. _Your_ burger. Paid for by _my_ wallet."

Piper retracted the knife, running her finger along the blade, coated in a mixture of juice and zesty sauce that the burger secreted. Piper sucked at it, shrugging off Alex's argument.

"The shame you bring on this gluttonous country."

Almost playfully, Piper slammed the knife down, wriggling a little in her seat to move a tad closer.

"Do you have a problem with the way I eat?"

"I do, actually. Why don't you just pick it up?"

"Because it'll drip everywhere."

"Jesus." _Trust a WASP to eat a burger with proper cutlery._

"Fine!" Piper snapped, biting her lip slightly as she scooped it up carefully, pinching the edges to prevent anything falling out. Alex watched triumphantly as Piper took a tentative bite, stretching her jaw a little wider, sharp incisors flashing momentarily. As her teeth crushed the structural stability to shreds, Alex found herself unable to cast her eyes away. She'd seen people eat before, of course she had. But the way Piper worshipped every single bite she took was surprisingly mesmerising, and didn't fail to send shivers up her spine. Instantly, Alex knew that _hungry Piper_ was something she liked. A lot.

Tongue flicked out from behind teeth, catching a drip of liquid as it trickled onto her lip. Fingertips dug into the crust, breaking through the surface and splitting the surface into countless fragments with a satisfying _crunch_.

Through the mellow silence that came with the first few bites of any commencing meal, Alex found herself paying less and less attention to her own actions. She had become so fixated on Piper she barely maintained a steady grip on the dripping mess the supported. The crisp edges of bacon and slippery rings of caramelised onion felt entirely foreign against her tongue.

It had lost all its taste.

It had lost all its allure.

Her mind refused to leave the mouth that bit and nibbled and chewed intensely. Alex felt bitterly jealous of Piper's burger that got to be devoured by those perfect lips. Piper's lips curled appreciatively, her breath sharp as she prepared for another bite; tongue darting out to meet the tender stack of beef that still simmered from the heat of a fiery grill.

Shreds of lettuce dipped and slackened. Cheese melted zealously, sinking into succulent cubes of pineapple, a sweet sourness that stung her tastebuds. Releasing the dripping mess, Piper wiped her mouth on the back of her hand, the film of flavours that had gathered there grazing back against her tongue as it was rubbed feverishly away.

Piper caught Alex's gaze; stormy eyes brewing away with something almost frightening. "Enjoying yourself?"

"You have no idea." Alex murmured softly.

"You're staring." Piper observed, but failed to feel that stifling insecurity that always developed from being the object of someone's gaze. Strangely, she _wanted_ to be the receiver of that glazed-over look that Alex wore. Absent of judgement and flecked with desire, Alex's eyes darted away, balancing her glance with scattered objects of discarded knives and saltshakers.

"Guilty as charged." Alex admitted, flashing a grin and shifting her position, slumping slightly against the chair, stretching her legs. But her movements weren't as calculated as she'd supposed. Alex's knee connected with Piper's somewhere under the table, taking an unsuspecting Piper by complete surprise.

It hadn't been intentional, but it did pose a crossroads. Pull away, and send a message that she wasn't all that interested. Or don't move a muscle, and be brave. Piper sucked in a sharp breath, coarse fabric rubbing against the inside of her knee, sure to burn. But Piper didn't want to part with the contact. And she hoped that Alex didn't either.

Piper felt juvenile, like Alex was her latest crush, and the most she had the courage to do was shuffle closer. She remembered all the times boys had sat next to her, a little closer every day. And when bumps and little accidents made skin collide, they hastily pulled away, muttering regretful apologies. Alex was the exception. Neither moved, not a muscle quivered as the daring contact was maintained, each moment increasing with tenacity that strongly suggested the purposeful nature of their actions.

Alex swirled her straw around, delaying meeting Piper's eye, scared of what she may find there. Piper did much the same, fidgeting with whatever she could find. The edge of the table. A scrunched up napkin. _Anything._

Briefly, Alex pondered the likelihood of staying here forever. Whether they would both be able to sustain this position until they were the only ones left - brooms and mops impinging on their territory. But sooner or later, Piper would surely pull away. She'll grow uncomfortable, adjust her position, and break apart from Alex. And Alex will be left to feel the air whip past, cold and cruel and mockingly haunting Alex for her foolishness.

Seconds passed, so many of them Alex wondered whether they had turned into minutes. The subtle clinking of glasses and forks against plates resounded heavily in her ears, and as her inner world began to gradually melt back into the outer, Alex was convinced enough Piper wasn't going to shift anytime soon. Tilting her head to the side, Alex tried to keep her adolescent smirk hidden.

"Here." Alex began, pushing one of the three glasses towards Piper, the one that had gone untouched. Piper eyed it suspiciously.

"How do you know you don't like it, if you haven't even tried?" Alex theorised, her fingertips pushing the glass as far towards her as she could get it.

Bubbling before her, that tumbler of hazy euphoria and bad decisions appeared to beckon her for just a taste. Those sorts of things had always been irresistible to Piper. She snapped it up, raising the straw to her lips, and drawing a tentative sip. Alex watched her throat bob up and down, her eyes squeeze shut as she was assaulted by the strength of the drink. "That's, uh- strong." Piper faltered, licking her lips.

"It's meant to be. But it will calm your nerves." Alex remarked, taking the opportunity to shuffle a little closer, sliding a little further up Piper's thigh, just enough to cause her to give a little jump. But as bashful as ever, Piper shied away, swallowing forcefully as she attempted to block her body's response. She wanted to yelp. She wanted to see what look Alex harboured in her eye. She wanted to push back.

Alex's words bounced around her head. _It will calm your nerves_. Nervous she was. But it wasn't all that obvious. Whatever Alex had picked up on, small occasional fingerings of the tablecloth or the tell-tale blush that crept up her neck whenever danger approached, or Alex's own intuition that made Piper as transparent as ice; she was right.

Piper snapped up the drink, taking a long swig before putting it back down on the table. Alex raised an eyebrow. _"More nerves than I thought…"_

She'd barely drunk two thirds of its contents, but Piper knew that fuzzy feeling when it hit. She liked the rush alcohol gave her, the nerve and strength and unshakeable feeling of invisibility. And Alex was right - it did calm her nerves. In fact, Piper had to concentrate hard to assure herself they were still there. They were surrounded by a dizzy version of courage, and made Piper feel like she could do anything.

So she did.

Piper pushed her thigh tighter against Alex's; a flickering warmth deep in the pit of her stomach burning profusely. Heat thrived at the point where they joined, and Piper swore she could feel it creep all the way up her neck.

The timidness she harboured diminished, and she managed to lock eyes with Alex, feeling something new surface there. It was a primal raw tendency that Piper didn't fully understand. But she didn't need to. Alex wasn't teasing anymore. Alex had caught herself in her own trap. She was just as deep as Piper, locked together, and currently trying to push a little further up her thigh.

Peripherally, Piper saw Alex's knuckles lock, straining to keep herself from running them all over Piper's skin. Expressionless, Alex struggled to keep steady. Whatever Piper was doing to her, it was powerful. It made her furious that she'd not suggested Piper come straight over to her place. This table, these people, were obstacles.

_It's only an innocent touch, it's an accident. You can hardly feel it, _Alex tried to convince herself, but Piper's light smirk of determination and hooded eyes of something more were not signs she could easily dismiss.

Alex wondered what she was in for when Piper glanced innocently around, checking to see whether their under-the-table activities had drawn any prying eyes. Pushing her chair as far forward as she could get it, Alex noticed Piper's hands disappear, slipping below the table, out of Alex's line of sight.

_Oh god._

Alex took a deep breath, every fibre of her being alerted, bracing and searching and goddamn craving the moment fingertips would brush.

On a particularly sensitive spot on the inside of her knee, Piper ghosted upward, going as far as she could reach with feather-light touches before dipping lower.

Alex sucked in breath, making a mental note to add _courageous Piper_ to the list of her favourites. Piper's touch scattered along the coarse material of her jeans, heavy enough to send pangs of desire rippling through her, light enough to make her want to beg for more.

Green eyes of desperation and conflicted ecstasy darted back to Piper, her current point of anchor. She had to do something about this, because her hands were oh so tempted to plunge down between them, and push Piper's wandering touch right up to where Alex wanted her. But Piper had her frozen solid.

"I've changed my mind. I like that drink." Piper informed, her voice steady and confident, without the slightest trace of a waver.

Innocent.

Her resolve made Alex want to silence that mouth in the only way she knew how.

It was clear Piper expected a response. Her fingertips were carefully coaxing it out of her. But Alex wasn't sure if she could utter a single word. She was so worked up and distracted, her tongue was tied. _Fucking hell._

"St_op_" Alex stammered, as quickly as she could muster. But it did little to control the slur that faulted her plea.

Piper crinkled her brow in insincere confusion. Alex might have even found it adorable if she wasn't currently being tortured to death. "What's wrong with your voice?"

"It's fucking a-allergic to _bullshit_." Alex breathed, her eyes closing over momentarily as Piper passed over a particularly sensitive spot.

Alex wanted to shoot daggers at Piper, or maybe just provide just enough encouragement to push Piper further. It took everything she had to not let her tortured ecstasy show and remain rigidly still. And it was proving near impossible to do so.

Piper raised an eyebrow, applying her nails to rake scathingly against the fabric.

_Too much. Too fucking much. Too fucking-_

_That's it,_ thought Alex, her hands skidding back across the table, only to drop beneath, and seek out Piper's wandering hands. She snapped it up, forcing her to apply more pressure. Alex saw Piper gasp, but was so heady and determined to drive Piper further she hadn't realised the sandy-haired waited her returned, hovering over the table.

"Do you want me to clear this away?" He asked courteously.

And just like that, the moment was broken. Piper driving Alex insane turned into Piper reeling back in shock, disconnecting from their secret entanglement under the table, forcing her chair back. Hands reappeared in sight, but much too hastily: brashly knocking over one of the glasses.

With a _plunk, _the glass tipped, spilling its alcoholic contents all over the polished oak table, in turn managing to overflow onto Piper.

Piper skittered back, jumping out of her chair and immediately surveying the damage.

"Oh god, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to startle you!" The boy assured, raising his hands to grip his head, horrified.

Piper forced her pounding heartbeat to calm a little, effectively saving herself from an ill-timed heart attack. Yes, the glass had been successful in making its mark on Piper's white shirt. A significantly sized mark, too - sticking transparently right to her stomach.

"It's fine, it's fine." Piper assured, rubbing herself down. "Not your fault", she promised, as the boy coated the table in napkins, turning up the glass. Alex stood up, catching Piper's attention as she pointed to the corner of the building. "Bathroom's that way."

Piper nodded, blankly following Alex's directions, avoiding entertained looks from customers that strained their necks to catch a glimpse.

Alex dug into her wallet, sifting through the notes and placing several firmly within the boy's grip, clasping her hand over the top. "Here. Change is all yours." The boy mentally estimated the change, shaking his head and outstretching his hand back to Alex. "It's too much. Especially since-"

Alex knocked his hand back. "Dude, trust me. It _really_ wasn't your fault."

….

Piper rubbed furiously at her shirt, a bunched-up paper towel forcefully applied to the stretched out material. She's not angry about the shirt. It's easy to get another one of those. But what on earth was the doing? What was she _thinking_?

Piper was horrified and ashamed. Piper was almost sorry they'd been interrupted. She felt wonderfully contradicted.

Too preoccupied mentally chastising herself, Piper hardly heard the door squeak open as Alex comes through, seeking Piper out.

"Don't-don't rub at it. It'll make it stick." Alex instructed.

Piper huffed, annoyed, continuing to rub against the material. Alex pries the paper towel out of her fist, careful to make as little contact as possible. She can tell Piper regrets what she has done.

"Can I?" Alex asked tentatively, motioning to the wet blotch staining Piper's shirt. Piper gave a nod, keeping her gaze averted from Alex. Alex ran a clean paper towel under the tap, letting it soak until it was at risk of losing its structural integrity.

Teeming with guilt and regret and confusion, Piper backed up, feeling the small space of the bathroom grow even smaller in Alex's presence. Her back was pressed up against the side of a toilet cubicle, her knees locking her slouched position into place. She looked positively crestfallen.

Alex mentally took the blame.

Piper watched with cat-like eyes as Alex's hand ran up the inside of her shirt, not daring to touch the skin of her stomach as she flattened the material out, using her other hand to dab away at the blotch gently.

With a look of concentration plastered onto her face, Alex worked out the yellowed stain, little by little. Piper watched, admiring the way black waves fell from being tucked behind her ear, obscuring her face. She was close enough that Piper could make out little details: the way she held her breath slightly whenever her focus peaked, the way she bit her lip, digging into its flesh.

Piper felt herself stiffen, aware of just how close Alex was in proximity, just how intoxicating it was to have her shallow breaths fall around her, dissipating as they fell upon her chest. It was oddly claustrophobic, and for every moment Alex remained occupied, Piper was grateful. She liked having Alex distracted, her confident and intense and downright _intimidating_ guard temporarily dropped. Alex's hand accidentally grazed along her stomach as it slipped back out from under Piper's shirt.

Piper gasped at the touch, however light, as it skimmed disappointingly away. Those touches were always too delicate and too momentary. Those gazes were too intense and smothered to death with unmet desires. Piper felt her heartbeat start to thrum.

Alex still kept her eyes averted, and Piper wondered whether Alex noticed it too, that fuzzy feeling that made the air feel charged with expectation.

Alex clasped her hands together to keep from fidgeting. She could smell Piper's scent intermingle with the distinctive alcoholic tang that was so familiar to her. It sent her into overdrive. It felt like an addiction.

All Piper could hear was her own heartbeat beating so strongly in her chest, she felt sure Alex must have heard it. Piper tried to concentrate on her breathing, having to work on getting enough air into her lungs, and save herself from falling. She felt sure Alex was stealing the air. It was so scant, so rare, so hard to get, and even harder to hold on to.

Piper was so preoccupied by keeping herself conscious she hadn't noticed Alex's gaze work it's way up, driven with that raw, primal quality that darkened her pupils. One confident look met Piper's, locking for only a brief second. Piper took a while to decipher what Alex was conveying.

_Permission._

So quickly Piper barely had time to focus, Alex crashed into her, her body suddenly pressed up against her own, backing Piper urgently up against the wall. Piper squealed as the space between them diminished, Alex's lips swiftly capturing her own. If the alcohol of the night had mellowed her, Alex sure as hell turned that around. Her lips were so warm and so persuasive every nerve in her body seemed afflicted with the uncontrollable sensations that flooded through her like a wave.

Piper let her eyes flutter shut, her mouth taking over from rational thought, lost in a dizzy haze of heat and stolen breath.

Hot and persistent, Alex made it brutally clear she wasn't aiming for tenderness. Piper failed badly to suppress a moan as Alex barely allowed her time to breathe, selfishly returning to her mouth time after time. And _God,_ she knew how to kiss. But it couldn't have just been her flawless technique that made Piper so weak at the knees she was sure she was melting. Alex was communicating so much passion it was almost unbearable.

Piper felt Alex's tongue run along her lower lip, enticing her to open her mouth fully. The kiss turned rough, both trying to reach new depths, but failing as teeth clashed messily.

Determined to steady her, Alex grasped her jaw, forcing Piper to tilt slightly to the side. It's torture when Alex decides to abandon all restraint and mischievously slips her tongue inside. Piper lets herself melt into Alex, into every choice and every brush and every breath that falls in-between.

Alex pushes her thigh into Piper's, applying just enough pressure to jam them recklessly apart. Piper doesn't protest - she's beginning to need some sort of friction to counter the ignited desire that craves more and more from Alex.

"Oh _god."_ Piper manages to groan, as Alex moves a hand from her jaw to drift downwards, sinking her fingers into melting flesh, making her body spark in anticipation. Piper arches her back, impatiently pressing every part of her into Alex, slowly and purposely being driven insane.

When Alex begins to suck and bite at her lower lip, Piper starts to lag. Her mind had dissolved, senses heightened, barely managing to turn her thoughts into actions. She ran her hands over Alex's waist, grasping her tighter and pulling her impossibly closer.

Alex seemed to understand how quickly Piper was demanding this progress, kissing Piper hard before leaving her bruised lips to trail her neck, feeling Piper's erratic breathing beneath shaking skin. Piper let her hands wander, growing agitated when she discovered it was impossible to slip her hands beneath Alex's corset-like top.

"_Fuck-"_ Piper grunted, husky and raw as she felt Alex graze over a particularly sensitive spot close to the juncture of her neck. Alex took this as a go-ahead, realising how quickly this was moving, and how incredibly public they were.

This was fast and instinctive.

This was hot and heavy.

This was progressing faster than either could keep up.

"Climbuponme", Alex jumbled, running her hands down to Piper's hips, finding a suitable grip to hoist her up with. Piper obeyed without question, linking her arms around Alex's neck and pushing herself up. Wrapping her thighs tight around Alex's waist, Alex twisted suddenly, backing Piper up against the wall for support. Blonde hair fell around them like a curtain, and Piper flashed a grin as Alex returned to her neck, one hand braced against the wall.

Piper clawed desperately at anything she could reach – the jet black locks that ran down Alex's back, shoulderblades, absolutely _anything_ she could grip or touch. She squirmed, feeling Alex so close to her, untouched parts of her getting desperate for attention. Piper grinded against Alex, muttering a string of incoherencies as she felt hands dip under her shirt and make their way up her stomach seconds later, travelling closer and closer to the fabric of her bra.

Feeling Piper's haphazard position beginning to slip, Alex encouraged Piper to tighten her grip, pushing them back off the wall, guiding them towards the door of the lone cubicle. With her attention divided between keeping Piper upright and opening the damn door, Alex fiddled with the handle, the locking mechanism preventing the door from swinging invitingly open.

"What the-" Alex trailed off, drawing her attention away from Piper, struggling to focus.

"Occupied!" a voice called from behind the door, irritated at Alex's persistence to jam open the door.

Immediately their frantic movements stilled. Neither had known they were not alone.

"There are kids in this place! You should be ashamed!" accused the voice from barricaded behind a highly effective locking mechanism.

"Been listening, have you?" Alex bit back, delivering an abusive kick to the door in retaliation. Piper stilled, suddenly reduced to snickers as she gripped onto Alex, lost in the entanglement, somewhere between desire and reality.

"You're both so loud, it's hard not to!"

Alex groaned. That stall wasn't going to open anytime soon, which left absolutely nowhere private. Piper moved against her hips, indicating she wanted to be put down. Alex steadied her breathing, removing her hands from under Piper's shirt, finding her hips. Hard breaths and hammering heartbeats were forced to calm, their bodies still pressed together, every movement and every shiver felt by the other.

Neither wanted to break away. Not when they'd gotten this far, so ready and so willing to forget their pointless battle for dominance, and resolve the matter a lot more physically. Piper felt the skin of her neck burn, and wondered whether Alex had left a mark. Perhaps even more than one.

"Do you wanna go back to my place?" Alex stammered, her voice raspy against Piper's neck. Without meeting Piper's eye, buried in the column of her neck, Alex waited patiently for an answer.

_Please say yes. Please fucking say yes_.

Piper released a hand from stuck somewhere between them; bringing it up to Alex's chin and make her meet her eye. Her face was wonderfully flushed, and Alex figured that hers was too, judging from the heat that stung at her cheeks.

Alex fell onto those smoky blue eyes just as the edges of Piper's swollen lips upturned slightly, enough to form a lopsided grin.

That was answer enough.

….

**Aaaannd I'm going to leave it there. Yes, right there. Sorry. Not sorry. ****Anyone up for another chapter? Just drop me a review. I should be able to write another relatively quickly (I have a week off uni soon).**

**Thanks for reading!**


	5. Textbook Definition Of Mercy

**Sorry, this took longer than I thought. I had a real issue with the pacing, and kept going back to change parts. I swear I've edited this over ten times, and it still feels kinda sucky. Use discretion from here on in, y'know, adult content and stuff. As you're well aware, it got a little heated in the last chapter. Hope I don't let you down.**

**Strap yourselves in and grab a beverage, this is ludicrously long.**

**Disclaimer: Nah not mine.**

…**.**

As her trudging steps were closely echoed by Piper's footfalls, Alex couldn't help but smirk at her luck. When she'd played out various scenarios of the night in her mind, each one slightly different, she hadn't expected Piper to still be right beside her almost three hours later. And yet here she was, tagging slowly along, her shoulder brushing against her own whenever the footpath grew particularly narrow.

But Alex noticed there were times she moved closer without the false pretence; her head shyly tiled towards the ground, inconspicuously inching a little closer whenever she felt sufficiently brave.

Alex's mind spun with the effect Piper's presence had on her – the tingle that lingered on her lips, the waves of intoxication that washed over her whenever she was close enough to catch the subtle perfume that mixed with natural scent and a plethora of other products Alex was at a complete loss to identify.

Alex had to work hard to suppress the urge to take Piper's hand and lock it in her own, just to make sure Piper wouldn't bolt. It was stupid and ridiculous; something that felt so uncharacteristic Alex felt guilt burn at her throat. But then again, if Alex touched her, even the faintest little brush of skin on skin contact, she wasn't sure she could exercise self-control. Not with the way she felt pressed up against her, not with the way her sighs made Alex believe there was no greater sound in the world to be heard.

"I've never been around these parts before." Piper commented, mesmerised by the quirky shop fronts nestled among houses, poking conspicuously out with glassy window displays. Piper trails behind, eyes fixed on the ones that catch her attention, her gait beginning to slow as her mind wanders.

"Never?"

"Never." Piper replies, shaking her head slightly. "Wish I had, though. It's so…" She trails off, her college education failing to equip her for an appropriate term to capture the essence of the neighbourhood.

"Alternative?"

"Yeah." _Alternative._ It described the area perfectly, from bus-shelters doused with talented doses of graffiti, eccentric late-night bars that were only just picking up for the night, filled with 80s rock and strange accents. Piper couldn't help but notice how appropriate it seemed for Alex to live in this area. She could see the appeal – it wasn't the typical suburbia, with children and SUVs and lawnmowers every Saturday morning. It was the polar opposite.

And it said a lot about Alex.

It speaks volumes of how badly Alex _hates_ suburbia. The monotonous repetition of 9 to 5 and mortgage repayments. Malls that replicated the one in the next suburb, and the one after that. That kind of life made Alex's skin crawl.

"Well, not many of your type around here."

For a second, Piper wondered if it was meant as an insult. But Alex didn't snicker or chuckle, she just dug her hands into her pockets, shrugging slightly as she kept her gaze fixed on the pavement, rarely darting back up to catch Piper's eye.

"My type?" Piper questions, feigning slight offence.

Alex looks to Piper, noting the smile that remained fixed on her lips. And with that look in Piper's eyes, Alex realises she isn't entirely sure what was reflected there. It wasn't confusion. It wasn't judgement. It wasn't even admiration. It was something that Alex hadn't seen before, something she couldn't decipher._ Maybe she doesn't fit a type at all…_

"The _entitled_ type. You know, coming from a family of _unspeakable secrets_ and faked smiles. The type that values money and respectability above anything…"

Alex pauses, trying to articulate what she means. There's no hurry in her silence, she knows Piper's still listening. Her gait slows a little every time Alex speaks, and she likes that. She likes how Piper wants to hear whatever it is Alex has to say, no matter how long she thinks it over and delays her words.

"Important, or…or _real, _I guess."

Piper thinks carefully about Alex's choice of word. She resents how easily it is for her to be typified: into the mould of privilege and money, of dysfunctional family and material possessions standing in the place of parents. It's a hang-up Piper's always carried - feeling the weight of it at every turn, as she meekly followed in the direction expected of her, never breaking away. She never had the courage to deviate, even just a little.

But nevertheless, Alex has a point. Importance in her family was placed on what you _projected_, rather than what you _were._ At times, Piper felt claustrophobic in the toxic façade that surfaced in every tense dinner conversation, every friend she brought home, only to have her mother cast her a disapproving look that said _she just doesn't fit_.

Piper always told herself that _one-day_, one day she'd break free and burn all the roads she'd followed that led to the same places her parents had been. She'd imagined it happening suddenly, like the flick of a switch, or the spin you did when you crash into someone at the subway. But Piper had lacked some core element: perhaps it was ambition, or courage, or strength; and so she learned to live in some unstable state of flux. Torn into two parts – distinctly different, completely incompatible.

"_Real._" Piper echoes. _Real_. It seemed to denote truth, and with it, a raw brutality that made Piper wonder what had made Alex regard "real" to be so significant. But the more Piper thought about it, the more she understood. Alex _reeked_ truth. The way she accepted what she was, the way she was so sure of herself. The way every word she spoke and every step she took hid absolutely nothing.

It made Piper curious. What did Alex hide, and where was it concealed? Would she find it in torn photos, dark secrets that had never seen light, healing skin or stashed possessions? Something in Piper, some deep, private instinct impelled her to find out.

Piper nodded as a mutual understanding surrounded them in blanketed silence. Alex didn't need to elaborate. Her scant words and hands shoved in her pockets, head tilted downwards spoke volumes in a language Piper deciphered naturally.

Something caught her attention, breaking her train of thought, making her turn abruptly and double back. Alex watched her movements curiously.

The glass shopfront of an old bookshop had sparked her notice, her eyes excitedly glazing over the leather covers of aged volumes and novels, gold rims and heavily imprinted inks from days of craftsmanship and quality. The enthusiasm that glinted in Piper's eye reminded Alex of a child lingering over some shiny new toy.

"I've read about this. It's meant to be the one of the best antique bookshops in the city!" Piper mused, peering into the darkened displays.

But Alex wasn't capable of responding right away. She was momentarily captivated by the reflection they cast, barely more than an outline against the glass. But it struck her as something significant, the kind of feeling that only comes around once in a while, the feeling like you've started something, and you just might be doing it right this time. She watched as refracted moonlight gave Piper's hair a silver quality, her head tilted to read horizontal titles and author's names. And there was her own reflection, a darkened figure with hands jammed into her pockets, her black hair falling into her jacket. It occurred to Alex her teenage habit of jamming her hands into pockets had returned, or perhaps more accurately, had returned around the presence of Piper. _Odd_. She thought she'd finally grown out of that one.

They looked strangely good together.

Alex forced herself to pull away from their reflection, focusing back on Piper's musings. "It is."

Piper darts around to meet Alex's downcast gaze. "Do you have a subtly ignorant, yet confidently clever answer for everything?"

Alex smirks, amused. "That's way too many adjectives, Pipes."

Piper shrugs her off, sure that whatever comeback she thought up, no matter how witty, would be beaten by Alex anyway. She's too distracted to even notice the nickname thrust upon her, a nickname that stuck like glue.

Alex runs her hands up and down her arms feverishly, attempting to maintain enough friction to keep her warm. "Can we come back when it's actually open? It's fucking freezing." Alex whines, her breaths forming cold puffs that linger for a few moments before dissipating.

Piper nods in agreement, wondering if Alex had actually meant that, or whether it was said with casual indifference. She'd like to return to the bookshop. She'd like Alex to lead her to different sections, selecting pre-browsed copies with a precise familiarity for their location and their pages. Piper turned on her heel, brushing up against Alex's shoulder. Part of her thought she should probably pull away, give Alex her space, not blur any lines. But the cold was as good a premise as any to stay that close.

And for every moment that passes, Piper grows a little more relieved that Alex doesn't pull away. She even slows down inconspicuously, scuffing along the sidewalk, keeping her gaze routinely averted. It causes a little panic in Piper, causing her mind to propel itself into overdrive, wondering what she may have done to make Alex refuse to meet her gaze.

But it wasn't Piper. It was Alex making a plan, calculating. Piper tries to catch her eye, but Alex is too distant in some part of her mind to notice. She's counting the steps, tracing the pavement, unsure of herself. It's a fear of the unknown that gets her. She knows the easy answer: she's taking the final steps home. But there's a feeling she can't escape, like she's making a decision bigger than it appears on the surface. Like somehow, it's going to matter. Alex racks her brain to think _why_ this might be different. Maybe it's because she likes Piper. It's been a long, long time since she felt that way.

So Alex drives her thoughts into exactly how she's going to play this. She's got a rough idea, and to be honest, it's an idea she's been working on since that night at the bar.

She's going make Piper remember the textbook definition of _mercy, _and demonstrate the meaning of _pleasure_. Piper won't be forgetting it anytime soon.

They approach Alex's apartment, and she points it out so Piper knows where to go. It's an old warehouse that's been converted, making it stand out against the standard, identical houses that surrounded it. Exposed rough brick makes it an impressive sight, and almost immediately, Piper's got her style nailed down. Unpolished floorboards. Wide open spaces. Random, un-matching pieces of furniture.

As they round the corner, Piper gets nervous all over again. It was startling how quick Piper's mind went from barely active at all, to almost throbbing with a rush of insecurity and doubt, making her fidget with the loose threads of her sleeve.

Piper watches Alex pull out a key at the door, feeling her heartbeat start to speed up a little more. _Concentrate_. Alex leans in close to Piper, until she's almost pressed up against her. There's hardly enough room between them to turn the key. Piper focuses intently, watching every movement Alex makes. She's so close, to tantalisingly close; Piper can feel her breath hitch. She twists the key, and it clicks open.

And in that moment, Alex just _knows_ she can't hold out any longer. The slow building of tension that felt like static felt unbearable, and for Alex, it's been lingering for far too long. She just can't take it anymore.

Just as her hand slips away from the keyhole, Alex twists, faster than the speed of sound. Her hands are swift and their movements calculated as they find their way to Piper. Alex grasps her jaw, pulling Piper roughly toward her. The distance closes, accompanied by a shocked stumble, and then there's an explosion of heat and unbearable fire as Alex's lips lock onto Piper's.

Piper gives a squeal, but the breath she desperately needs is sucked out of her, and Alex doesn't catch the sound. Her mind has melted – she can't think straight, as everything is utterly consumed by everything _Piper_. Hands go flying, and get lost somewhere in the entanglement. It's messy; neither have any co-ordination. But Alex quickly realises that a tactical train of thought might actually come in handy – they haven't even managed to step inside the threshold yet.

_Focus._

Alex feels Piper make a desperate attempt to deepen the kiss, and she's so forceful Alex is almost thrown off balance. Suddenly, it's Piper in control. And the minute Alex catches on that she's fast surrendering her empire, she tries to force it back.

Alex relinquishes her hands from _somewhere_, finding Piper's wrists and pushing them tightly up against the door. Her body follows, twisting roughly, until Piper's completely backed up against the doorframe. Alex smiles against Piper's lips, pleased with herself, and much more comfortable with Piper being the defenceless one, pressed up against the doorframe, her chest rising and falling - absolutely _pounding_. Her cheeks are flushed, her eyes bright and unsuspecting. There's something so erotic about that look that Alex immediately feels a pang somewhere deep inside of her, so intense it almost hurts.

Alex leans into Piper, her weight pushing Piper further and further in until suddenly, Alex is slightly concerned she might shatter Piper's ribs. But Piper doesn't seem all that interested in the prospect. She releases what sounds like a whimper, and Alex can feel her body arch deliciously, increasing contact. Unable to resist, Alex responds, grinding harshly against Piper's hips, pushing her back.

This was Alex's door. This was Alex's property. It was Alex who earned the right to control.

With a deviousness that catches Alex off-guard, Piper manages to slip out of Alex's hold, her fugitive hands skimming down Alex's sides, finding her hips. Alex hisses slightly as Piper tightens her grip, pushing Alex further forward, and applying her fingernails in an attempt to force Alex into compliance.

Slightly irritated, Alex catches Piper's bottom lip between her teeth, biting down. "In this land, _I_ am king." Alex demands, her voice hoarse and without the slightest trace of hesitance. It's a statement, a mandate, and there's no room to question.

But it spurs Piper on, as a challenge. Challenges are everything forbidden, from frosted cereals to failed subjects. Everything remotely rebellious, everything _fun._ And right now, the challenge is Alex. And it's the best challenge yet.

"Your _land_ doesn't begin until we actually get inside the door."

Alex snickers against Piper's lips. "Pretty sure I own the door. _Both_ sides of the door."

Piper resorts to her fragmented recollections of _Philosophy 101_ to counter Alex's rather persuasive, and rather correct, argument_._ "Ownership doesn't exist."

"I'll fuck you right up against the door then."

There's little light to see, but Alex can see Piper's pupils darken at the prospect. She's tempted, but not nearly daring enough to take her up on the offer.

"I'll take a raincheck. Just get the fucking door open."

Finally, _finally_, Alex manages to twist the handle, never allowing Piper to leave her lips. The door falls open, and Alex releases a sigh of relief – a door that actually _opens_ is the one she's needed all damn night.

There's a moment where Piper's unsure whether to wait for an interlude, but Alex never wavers for a second - her tongue remains just as demanding, forcing Piper to take several steps backwards. But her steps grow increasingly tentative, blinded in unfamiliar territory, and utterly oblivious to the placement of furniture. "Alex…"

But Piper never gets to finish her sentence as Alex swallows it, effectively shutting Piper up. And Piper struggles for air – certain she'll soon be deprived enough to maintain consciousness. But Alex breaks just in time; at the very moment she feels her lungs about to explode. Distantly, Piper registers the door slam shut, and her entrapment suddenly feels very, very real. There's no escape from Alex's embrace.

Alex's wandering hands skate down her back, over her ass and around her thighs, finding a grip steady enough to hoist Piper up with.

"Up." Alex directs.

Piper doesn't dare disobey, gripping at Alex's shoulders as she jumps, her thighs locking with hips. Alex groans at the sensation, it's so close and exquisite that she's not sure she will survive the night. But then Piper grinds against her hips, and every coherent thought that plagues her diminishes, lost forever. She's all hips and hands and breath that begs for the return of her lips on hers.

Alex feels heat build at her core, a reaction faster than any she can remember, and Alex realises how quickly this needs to progress. Alex swipes Piper's hair away in one smooth motion, before bringing her mouth to hover just above the aching skin of her neck. She can feel Piper struggle to get enough air, and realises she's probably gripping her a little too tight.

She's so close to Piper's neck she can see a single trickle of sweat skitter along, and for some reason, it makes her smirk, she knows it's _her_ that's elicited this response from her. The air is cool outside, almost bitter, and she's _sweating_.

On impulse, Alex lets her tongue flick out to catch the droplet before it disappears. Piper gasps, her arms tightening their grip in response.

_Oh god yes._

Alex delivers an open-mouthed kiss to the quivering skin beneath. Piper's fingers automatically curl around Alex's shoulders, digging in slightly to encourage her further. Her mouth trails further, with an agonising pace that threatens to unhinge her.

"_Please_" Piper whimpers, her head tilted back to give Alex better access.

Alex hits a particularly sensitive spot close to her ear, and Piper gives a jolt. Her hand fly to Alex's hair, tangling in black locks, and Alex knows immediately it's a weak spot for Piper.

Her lips dart over the flesh again, this time biting down softly. Piper's breath falls short, giving away the exact location.

_There_.

Alex releases the skin from between her teeth, sucking gently to soothe it. Her legs grow weak from the pressure of supporting both herself and Piper, and Alex begins to shift, orienting herself towards the wall. Piper squirms against Alex's hips, her position falling dangerously low. It threatens to drive Alex insane, all that wriggling so close, yet never close enough. She's stuck between wanting Piper to still, and wanting her to continue.

Alex pushes Piper up against the wall, letting her slither down onto stable ground before attacking her mouth. She doesn't hold anything back this time – she doesn't think she has the restraint, and so she mercilessly invades her mouth, her tongue darting to Piper's, and forcing her to surrender.

Her hands drop to the button of Piper's jeans, and it's a movement so calculated it takes her by surprise. Alex's hair has fallen into a state of disarray, loose strands blocking her vision as she fights with the button.

"I don't even get the tour?" Piper quizzes, sarcastic.

Alex just smirks, catching Piper's gaze and watching her eyes begin to glaze as she undoes she zipper of her jeans very, very slowly.

"That'll cost you extra."

"What happened to the '_support the broke college grad'_ attitude?"

"Gone."

"What a disaster." Piper mumbles absently, tugging at the arms of Alex's leather jacket, insisting the offending article be discarded. But Alex isn't the least bit interested in removing it, not when her hands have slipped underneath Piper's shirt, grazing over her stomach and around her waist.

Eventually Piper's irritation grows, and Alex's refusal to remove her hands from Piper's body, even for a second, is making it impossible for Piper to tear the jacket away.

"Take it off." Piper growls.

Alex grins, loving how demanding Piper's words are. She leaves Piper's mouth, seeking out her earlobe and tugging on it gently as her arms drop from under Piper's shirt. Piper peels the jacket away, struggling to complete the simple task without getting slightly lost, mesmerised by the sharp pain that signalled to Piper that she hadn't really won. Alex kicks the door open, barely allowing Piper time to pull off a lone shoe before Alex pulls her inside.

With every passing second, Alex grows a little more confident. Perhaps it's the familiarity of the room, or the alcohol finally mellowing her out. But suddenly, her plan kicks into action, and she can work on autopilot, giving her time to focus on the way Piper _feels_, the way she _sounds_, the way she _responds_.

But Piper's not nearly as lucid. Every touch Alex inflicted upon her had the remarkable ability to sober her up – and yet, at the same time, made her more intoxicated by the second. Everything was fragmented, like a jump in an old film roll.

Piper can feel Alex pull at her shirt, adept fingers fidgeting with the buttons. Slowly, Piper's chest is revealed as the fabric falls away, heaving flesh so enticing Alex barely manages to suppress the urge to devour it already.

Hands grow desperate and frustrated at the lack of progress she makes, and by the final few buttons, Alex's vision clouds, and she's frantic to feel her.

Alex is tempted to rip it apart, but Piper would probably be most annoyed if she ripped what she figured was probably a favourite shirt. It's not civil to tear fabric from seams, and make buttons fly. But then again, Alex isn't feeling even remotely civil today.

_Fuck it_, Alex thinks, grabbing two tight handfuls of the shirt, and forcing it open. She can hear the fabric tear, and vaguely hears two buttons clatter somewhere on the floorboards.

It's strangely satisfying.

Piper gasps, and her mouth falls agape, ready to protest. But before she can say anything, Piper notices the look harbouring in Alex's eye. It's dark, primal even, and it silences her immediately. Alex pulls at the sleeves, and Piper adjusts her elbows and lets Alex tug it away.

Her touch returns, leaving a trail of goosebumps in its wake as she reaches around, locating the clasp of her bra. It unlocks with an ease that Piper can't even match with her own bra, let alone someone else's. It falls away, and Piper fixes her gaze on Alex, watching a small smile of admiration appear as the sight of her breasts is revealed.

Piper grows uneasy under Alex's gaze – her insecurities on display. It doesn't take Alex long to notice. By the loop of her jeans, Alex tugs Piper close, bringing her flush against her. She moves close to her ear, and like a secret, Alex whispers, "_These have got to be the best tits I've ever seen."_

It's exactly what she needs to set her back on track – back into the heat and the all-consuming force of Alex, insecurities fizzling insignificantly away. Alex is quick and calculated, and Piper is pulled onto the bed, falling heavily onto Alex's body, her arms darting out brace herself against the mattress. Piper looks down, surprised to find Alex beneath her, dizzy from the weight of Piper haphazardly on top of her.

"Figured _you _for the top."

Alex grins. "Switch?"

"Yeah."

Alex jams her leg in between Piper's, flipping them over until Piper is beneath her. _Much better._

Piper's hands hover against the band of Alex's jeans, a silent request for them to be removed. Alex nods, leaning back in to capture Piper's lips, a hand skimming down the space between them, unbuttoning. Piper follows, and both try messily to sustain the kiss in between badly timed tugs on taut material. Eventually, they succeed – and Alex throws both over the edge of the mattress.

Alex stops suddenly, hovering above Piper, a momentary interlude to take in the sight. Barriers removed, Alex is granted access to Piper's skin unhindered. She shudders; slightly surprised she could be so overwhelmed by the sight of all that trembling skin beneath her.

Alex placed her hands on Piper's bare stomach, feeling quivering muscles respond eagerly. Alex desperately wanted to map every inch of that skin. She wanted to chart the subtle changes of colour and texture, scale all the slopes and edges and highwaters. Explore every landmark of blemish or bruise, locate every single little spot that would tingle under her touch. Alex wanted to trace that skin - wanted her fingers to never be without its heat. She wanted every detail and every touch and every shiver to be committed to memory, securely locked away in her mind.

But Alex was disrupted in her quest when Piper's eager hands began to tug her closer, willing to be touched all over, with an insistence that wasn't going to allow a precise exploration. Alex convinced herself it could be saved for later.

Alex steadies herself for a moment, and pushes the hair away from Piper's face. Her gaze wanders, trailing the length of her body. Something snaps deep inside Alex, and impulse takes over.

Alex's returns to her neck, slowly tracing down the column of her throat. Her hands find the melting skin of Piper's breasts - the touch so soft and tender as they draw precise circles over her flesh that Piper's certain she's never felt something so exquisite.

It's a sensory overload, despite the fact that Alex moves slower and slower with every passing minute. Piper gives a jolt as Alex's thumb brushes against her nipple, and instinctively, Piper arches up to the touch. Alex's hand darts away, replaced by her mouth, her tongue flicking around the hardened nub. Piper inhales sharply, her eyes snapping shut.

"Oh god." Piper manages to say, her hands tangling in Alex's hair, encouraging her on. Her mouth starts to descend lower, and Piper feels like she's slowly unravelling. She wraps her fingers tighter, holding on for dear life as Alex approaches the sensitive spots just beneath her ribcage. Piper releases a stuck sound, partway between a whimper and a complaint. _"There-"_

But the moment the utterance leaves her lips, Piper immediately regrets it. Alex uses it to her full advantage, her lips tracing ever so gently over the spot. It's never enough – and Piper feels like she might explode. She teases as Piper's muscles visibly quiver under her mouth. "Alex, Please."

Movements turn frantic – to the pace of teenagers. This was impatient desperation and sensations that sent her mind into absolute overdrive. This was first touch done right – building in every second. This was what Piper had traded for awkward fumbling and desire that never quite built more than a flicker, and ended all too soon. This was testing everything she thought she knew, making her question how much pleasure one person could endure.

Fingers skate over her hips, tracing along the jutting bone before dipping lower. They hook around her underwear, and Alex looks up briefly, asking permission. Piper nods, resting on her elbows, intent on watching every little movement Alex makes. But Alex grasps the sheet in her hand, pulling it over her head and disappearing beneath.

Piper falls back against the pillows, anticipation building with every passing second. Alex pulls the material down, adjusting her position to rest her weight on her elbows. Piper can feel shallow breaths hit her core, and it's enough to unhinge her.

She can't see Alex, so she can't really judge the distance. But that only serves to make it worse.

Everything in Piper's mind concentrated on that fragment of time – filled with nothing but the expectation for the moment Alex might move a little closer, and frustration for every passing second she didn't.

Alex closes the distance at the exact moment Piper is about to protest, her tongue slowly licking the length of her lips, but never daring to dip beneath. Piper squirms, her thighs automatically tightening to bring Alex closer. Alex loops her arms around Piper's thighs, forcing her to keep steady.

Piper grinds against her mouth, becoming very aware of just how wet she is. Alex smiles, feeling Piper's hands tighten in her hair. She delivers an open-mouthed kiss right against her core, and Piper shudders at the contact. It's maddening. She's _so close_, but never _close enough_.

Slowly, unbearably slow, Alex's tongue darts out, brushing against her folds before dipping beneath. There's nothing innocent about the way Alex applies her tongue – in strokes, in licks, in undefinable ways. She should've guessed by the way Alex kissed – so demanding and relentless and passionate – that she'd be no different with her head between your thighs.

"Fuck, Alex!" Piper cursed, her fingers trying to push Alex closer, but at the same time, trying to push her away. Alex tightened her grip on Piper's thighs, letting her breath fall against her core.

Her tongue ventured out, slipping inside her. Alex almost melted at how ready she was under her tongue. It's not enough for Piper, and her fingers twist in Alex's hair as she lets out a badly suppressed groan, trying to communicate to Alex exactly where she wants her.

Alex concedes, her tongue finding her clit and sucking lightly, before swirling around it. Piper gives a jolt – she's sensitive. _Really _sensitive. Alex doesn't think she's been with anyone that reacts to powerfully to so little. Alex does it again, with more pressure, until Piper's muttering her name over and over, blended with some expletives thrown into the mix.

Piper's fast losing control - ascending the precipice and sprinting all the way up, never settling on one place for too long. Alex grew a little rougher, her mouth working continuously against her core. She traces undefinable patterns, hitting her in all the right spots, with just the right amount of pressure.

Piper can feel herself grow faint, a foreign tingling feeling beginning to spread throughout her body. Alex could feel Piper was close – her thighs squeezing around her; hips beginning to be less and less calculated in their movements. Alex brought her hand up to skim along Piper's stomach, searching blindly for the swell of her breast. She grasped it, running her palm over the nipple, before rolling it between her fingers. Piper's breathing turned jagged, obstructing her moans and turning them into badly executed primal cries that begged for _more_ and _more_ and _more._

The movements of her tongue turned hard and fast, alternating between sucking and running her tongue over her clit, until she felt Piper's muscles begin to tense. Piper's hands left her hair, only to desperately search for something solid to hold onto – some kind of anchor. But Piper felt herself begin holding her breath as the sensations Alex elicited from her turned too strong to hold back even for a second.

There was nothing but Piper's moans to fill the air – eyes squeezed shut and hands digging into the pillows. Piper's back arched instinctively into Alex's touch as her climax hit, hard. She was completely overloaded from the affliction of pure pleasure – every molecule of her being consumed by the feeling. Her hand came up to grip the headboard as she bolted upright, riding out the high until she was utterly spent.

Piper couldn't remember anything so powerful that it tore her perfectly apart.

Piper collapsed back against the mattress, her eyes still fixed shut as she felt the last remnants of bursting pleasure fizzle away, Alex's tongue slowly withdrawing from her. Alex pulls the sheet back, delivering a kiss to her abdomen before wiping her lips of wetness that had gathered there.

"Oh my god."

"Horrible, wasn't it?" Alex mused, looking very pleased with herself. Piper immediately caught on that this was some sort of accomplishment to Alex – likely to be measured in frequency and intensity. Piper wouldn't have been altogether surprised if Alex kept some kind of a record of the girls she fucked.

"The worst."

Alex brought herself to hover over her, letting Piper pull her in for a kiss. There was still tension there, still desire that had either not been satisfied or had simply built up all over again in the precious few seconds that had elapsed. _This was not over._

"You're really bad at that." Piper quipped, punctuating the words by pulling Alex back down for a kiss, her fingers curling to hold her in place as she briefly took control. It breaks, far too quickly than Piper would like, and Alex dips her head, ready to return to Piper's chest. Piper brushes her nose against Alex's forehead, bringing her back up. "Can I do you?"

It's a simple enough request, but it strikes Alex as almost comical. Who actually _asks_ to fuck? She thought she'd made it pretty clear – crystal clear in fact – how much she wanted Piper. After all, she _did_ push her up against a toilet cubicle, and almost freaked the fuck out when she realised she was actually going to have to wait the tortuously long walk home. She _also_ tore apart her shirt, and managed to leave a nice little hickey on her neck. She thought she'd made it pretty damn clear that Piper had full, unrestricted permission to fuck her.

"You don't have to ask."

Piper breaks from her lips, propping herself up on her elbows. Her insecurities return, and Piper realises that she hasn't got a clue what to do. She rattles her brain, trying to remember what Alex had done, but she wasn't paying the slightest attention, all too consumed in the sensations and the feel of her tongue against her.

"I've never…really…"

Alex shifts, moving out from entanglement and propping herself on her side.

_Oh._ She hadn't realised this was a first time. She hadn't given it even a single thought. In fact, she hadn't even considered whether Piper was actually gay. It didn't matter a whole lot – girls were attracted to her no matter what they labelled their sexuality as. But she could usually tell, _especially_ if it was a first time. But Piper had done a damn fine job of fooling her, and she was pretty sure if Piper hadn't told her, that she wouldn't have known the difference.

"Gone down on a woman before?"

"I mean…." Piper begins, her gaze coy and mischievous before realising that she can't lie to save her life, and the ending of her sentence isn't really going to fit. Alex watches her expression change, from flirtatious to dorky in less than two seconds flat. "…no."

It's downright adorable, the way she lays all her cards on the table like that, right in front of Alex. It was amusing how honesty came so quickly to Piper. That was a quality she had to admire, for it wasn't one she possessed herself. The first time she'd fucked a girl, they'd hazily asked if she'd done this before, and on impulse, Alex had said 'yes'. But she'd never been found out, and it hadn't made the slightest difference.

Piper harbours a look of uncertainly in her eye: as though she's somehow deceived Alex and caused great offence, and might be thrown out of the apartment any second. Perhaps more logically, there's a fear that this might cause some anxiety for Alex – she's never done this before, so not nearly as experienced, and therefore, not worth it.

But Alex has no such thought – she's too preoccupied fussing over how adorable Piper is right now. More transparent than a kid who can't deal with the guilt of lying, so just blurts it out. But she intends to use this to her advantage, take a low stab at her sexual orientation, test her.

"What kind of a lesbian are you?"

But Piper's quick off the mark to respond, and Alex briefly wonders whether this is a response she's been planning all along. "The boob-touching kind." Piper arches into Alex's hand, punctuating her response.

"All-right, well, are you ready to take the plunge…so to speak?"

Alex really hopes Piper will say yes, but she's not letting this progress any further unless she's sure that Piper wants this. It's strange – a large component of her job is fucking girls without their explicit consent. They were often drunk or high or suffering from sort of emotional chaos, and Alex had never really paused to consider the implications. But in that moment, it felt right that Piper was ready. Because if she wasn't, she'd sure as hell be disappointed, but she sure as hell wouldn't push it.

Piper tugs Alex closer. "Are you going to coach me through it?"

_Thank god_, Alex thinks, the moment she figures out that means _yes_.

"Yeah."

Piper brushes her lips against hers, feeling Alex instinctively cup her face and sigh into the kiss. It's got to be the hottest thing Piper's experienced all night. It's a moment where they've temporarily forgotten their battle for dominance, and Alex has forgotten who she is, to just let herself get lost in that kiss, caught in a state of flux.

There's a dull buzz from somewhere in the room, and it takes Piper a while to click that's it's an incoming call, and that she should probably break away. But as Alex begins to cut it short, she just blindly follows, determined to stay against Alex's lips, grasping at her arm so Alex can't get any further away.

Alex clutches her face, giving Piper just a few more seconds before attempting once again to free herself from Piper's embrace, only to have Piper stubbornly return. But Piper doesn't have enough energy to lift herself any further off the mattress, so she lets Alex go.

Snatching up her glasses and the phone, Alex squints at the blur of a screen, barely making out the word '_Fahri_'.

Oh.

_Oh._

What night was it? Thursday. She was meant to be coordinating the Amsterdam lot. What time did that plane leave again? _God, she was so fucking screwed._

"What time is it in Amsterdam?"

It takes her a while to remember that Piper probably isn't going to know, and there's currently no one in the house belonging to the drug ring, so it's not a question that's going to be answered without answering that phone. Besides, she has to. "Okay, give me a second", Alex asks, leaning back down. But Piper's having none of it, her hand finding it's way around Alex's neck, keeping her there.

It makes Alex really, really wish she didn't have to answer.

"I'm sorry, it's business. I'll be right back."

Alex turns, throwing on a dressing gown. "Do you want a glass of water?"

Her skin feels cold and incomplete without Piper's warmth, and she desperately wants to return. Frustrated, Alex jabs the green button, bringing the phone up to her ear. "You have _got_ to stop doing that." Alex barks down the line, running a nervous hand down her hair. "I was _right_ in the middle of something."

"Your sexual exploits are none of my concern, Vause."

"God, this couldn't have waited?"

"Amsterdam says they've got the packages. Say there's no one to deliver. This would be your department, so no, it can't wait."

Alex counts herself lucky she's dealing with Fahri and not someone more volatile. This was meant to be done hours ago – and she's compromised a fairly big drop. It's entirely on her, she was given full responsibility.

"Fine, okay. When does the plane leave? I'll get the redhead from that stripclub… what was her name?"

"I wouldn't know, Vause. I wasn't there."

Suddenly, there's a scream that rips through the air and chills Alex to the bone. She turns around and almost bolts back to the bedroom, barely managing to mumble an absent "_gotta go" _before she slams the device shut and flicks the light switch.

"Jesus-what the _fuck_?" Alex exclaims, having to practically pry Sylvie away from Piper, and force her back towards the other side of the room. "Stop it, Sylvie!"

"Shit-" Alex extends her arm to Piper, helping her up as she attempts to keep the sheet wrapped around her, protecting whatever shreds of dignity she has left, and still cup her burning cheek. Piper jumps back, shying away from Alex's touch as she reaches out to steady her. "She attacked me!"

Alex feels immediately guilty, partly because this is all her fault, partly because she looks genuinely scared, her brow crinkling in horror, so utterly unprepared for some stranger to come barging in, and hit her in the face.

"Are you fucking kidding?"

Alex gets defensive, stuck somewhere between the truth and the fabrication, and currently ready to hit Sylvie back, should she try to take another swing at Piper.

"She just came in here!"

"_I live here!"_ Sylvie fumes, her arms shrugging the ludicrousness of Piper's claims off.

Like two sides of the same coin, both turn to Alex. Suddenly, Alex feels increasingly ambushed by the situation, and she can't think of a single scenario which would lead to a decent outcome. So she decides to come clean. She refuses to be the person who cheats and lies about it. And in her mind, she's already justified her way out of the _cheating _part anyway. But it's people like her father who would bullshit their way out of a predicament like this, and Alex refuses to be that person. _Both_ think she's cheating, so her explanations are as good as dead right now. So with all the pride she bear to part with, she swallows down all her arguments, and half-heartedly spills out the agreed-upon 'truth'. "She does."

But then Sylvie blurts out something she wishes Piper would never have to hear. "That's my _girlfriend_, you whore."

Piper looks at Alex, clutching her cheek as she shakes her head. "No."

It was true, or at least, kind of true. But she can't reveal that to Piper, and she sure as hell can't reveal that to Sylvie. In no position to defend herself, Alex bites back all the things she wishes she could say.

"Get her the fuck outta here." Sylvie demands, pointing a menacing finger at Alex.

"Okay, I will. I'm gonna get her outta here, and then we're gonna talk." Alex responds, walking Sylvie backwards, as far away from Piper as possible, before she's turned into a personal punching bag.

"_I said get her out! Now!"_

Alex can feel Sylvie push back, and Alex immediately backs off.

"Sylvie-Come on, Sylvie." Alex despises the way she sounds – like she's desperate, like she's begging, but it's crucial that Sylvie stays in this farce of a relationship. There's literally millions of dollars at stake here. And she hasn't worked her ass off to charm her for nothing.

"Your girlfriend?" Piper asks, no longer filled with fear, but of shock – a shock that she's been led into this, _coaxed_ right in this, until Alex had gotten what she wanted out of her, and then returned to her girlfriend with what Piper's mother was sure to term 'incredibly violent tendencies'.

Alex sighs, motioning for Piper to _stop_ this personal attack. "It's _complicated_." And it really, really was. Alex had intended the words to impart at least _some_ of the reasoning behind this, but it ended up sounding incredibly self-centered.

Piper looks positively horrified by Alex's response, and immediately she wishes she could take it all back, but Alex forces herself to suck it up, and let guilt envelop her and pride wash away.

"This is so fucked up" Piper mutters, grabbing her jeans and shoving them on as fast as she can, determined to get as far away from Alex as possible.

Alex feels impelled to explain at least _something_, and despite her hardwired belief that apologies don't mean anything, she decides it's the least that Piper deserves. "I'm sorry. I should've said something."

"You think?!" Piper spits back, and really, Alex can't really blame her.

"Are you hurt? Did she hurt you?" Alex asks, her voice filled with genuine concern as she tried to brush Piper's hair away from her flushed cheek. Piper pulls away from the touch, and Alex is immediately disappointed that she's lost the right to touch her.

"She _punched _me in the _face._ _Yes_, it _hurts_."

_Fuck, Alex. Stop asking stupid questions. You're an absolute moron for landing her in this shit._

"I just, I-I-I kept seeing you around, and yeah, I liked you…and then when you _called…_"

She's full of explanations and reasons that don't really match up, and her stuttering has returned – an old habit from childhood whenever she got caught out doing something she shouldn't.

"Okay, stop it. Please don't. You're making it worse."

Alex holds out her bra, trying to make herself useful. "Here." Piper snatches it up, looking more regretful by the second that she'd let all this happen. "Did you find your other shoe?" Alex asks quietly.

"Forget it." Piper mumbles.

"What? You can't _walk home_ without your shoes," Alex persists, but failing to come up with a reason why she couldn't, and so as Piper turns at the door, glaring daggers, Alex can only muster "They're-nice…shoes."

Alex wants to drive Piper home, find her shoe, or buy her a new pair even. She can tell Piper's not going to forgive her, not after this, not after the mistake she's made. Piper throws her widowed shoe onto the floorboards, because really, it's useless keeping it, unless she wants a keepsake of the occasion.

"They're from Marshals. Fuck you." Piper slams the door shut, still clasping the sheet around her, shirt and bra dangling from her fingers.

Alex winces as the door slams, squeezing her eyes shut, muttering "fuck" under her breath. _You fucked up. You really fucked this up._ Alex kicks the chest backed onto the bed, instantly regretting it as pain begins to radiate.

Alex counts to ten, slowly releasing a shaky breath. _Set this right, Alex._ _It's your job to play the game._

Alex couldn't escape the feeling that she was walking on eggshells in her own house as she stealthily moped down the book-lined hallway, bracing herself. She's aware of Sylvie in her peripheral vision, her arms crossed as she paces aimlessly, sure to be tracking permanent scuff marks. Alex pretends to be oblivious, moving swiftly into the kitchen and opening the fridge.

Sylvie waits, ready to begin a fresh wave of hysteria, as Alex calmly drops some ice into a glass and fills it with Scotch. But Alex mechanically refuses to meet her gaze, slipping past her as she pulls up a stool by the kitchen bench.

Eventually, Alex's passivity pushes Sylvie to breaking point, and she blows. A heavy hand slams onto the bench, powerful enough to cause Alex's glass to slosh around wildly. Alex looks up tentatively, but doesn't make a single comment.

"You don't talk now? You fuck around, but you don't talk?"

"I'm sorry."

"Oh, you're sorry. Well then, problem-fucking-solved.You were clearly feeling apologetic five minutes ago, with your-"

Alex cuts her off. "I said I'm sorry, alright? I fucked up, it was stupid."

"Does this relationship mean _nothing_ to you? You wanna throw it all in over some blonde whore?"

_Yes, _Alex thinks. _I really wish I could_.

"She's gone, okay? I won't do it again."

"You better not. Or your ass is fucking dumped, Alex."

Alex nods into her glass, waiting until Sylvie has finally gone before daring to look up again. The bedroom door slams, and the kitchen is plunged into silence, and Alex relishes every second of it. Her thoughts trail off, and return, inevitably, back to Piper. She wonders where she is – whether she's made it home okay. How mad she is. She's tempted to make it right – call her, text her at least. Turn up at her house, offer an apology, be torn to shreds as Piper rejects it.

Each idea she thinks of seems more pathetic than the last.

Alex pulls her phone out of her pocket, typing in the only memorised number into the keypad. She takes a deep breath, getting her mind to clear, because she knows when the voice comes down the line, everything will feel better.

"Hey, mom."

….

**You won't believe it when I tell you this was the shortened version. So that kind of finishes off a section, let's say, 'part one'. Is anyone up for a part two? I have some great future scenes written up, but I'm not entirely sure this story has the strength to go the distance.**

**Thanks to the guest who has been metaphorically camping out on my doorstep until the next update (I made you some pie), Melanie (sorry I killed you, hope you're more skilled than me at passing units), the guest who called me Satan (stay rad bro), ****DarkestGayMoon**** (THANKS SO MUCH DUDE), giggi91 (hope this makes up for my cruelty),****PipexVauseman, ****endofeverything**** (really appreciate your comments), Apyabt (best compliment I could hope for), Taylos, tayschillings, Cherishedngadsden (you really tapped into what I was going for, thank you!), ****OITNBEmma, ****Next Exit, ****DA15Y****, ****vanillaltte****, ****Fig-aruna, ****hannahvickers1 and absolutely everyone who is reading. Stay cool everybody.**

**Oh, quite a few people PM'd me for my tumblr, and since you're all coming from this fic, my url is cessati0n. Please leave your thoughts in the box; I really like hearing what you have to say. If you have any suggestions, share 'em! Criticisms? Go right ahead. Chapter 6 yay or nay? Come at me.**


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